Jedi Destiny IV: Warped Mirror
by Mikells
Summary: Exploring a set of mysterious caves, Zak Arranda, Jacen Solo and Talesa Valara find themselves transported to a parallel universe much different to their own, and in which the Sith leaders of a new Order are far deadlier.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_**NEW REPUBLIC CRUISER: **_**BRIGHT STAR**_**; THYFERRA**_

**10 ABY:**

Alarms blared across the command deck, and the red flash of battle alert warning lights strobed along the sides above viewport height.

Captain Salorin reacted with lightening speed. She whirled around to face her aide and demanded an explanation at once. Needless to say, with the experience and record of the young man, the explanation came swiftly.

While looking down at the sheet of flimsiplast in his left hand, the young man said; "There's an Imperial fleet dropping out of hyperspace, ma'am." He looked up at her to gauge her reaction, and then back down at the flimsi as some new information flashed across it. "And it's led by the _Lusankya_," he added.

"_Fierfek_!" Salorin hissed. "Isard!"

The aide swallowed and awaited orders dutifully. "Doesn't look like we have much time to do what we came here to do then, does it?" She asked no one in particular. "Battle stations, everyone. Get the word out to the fleet, and deploy all capital ships to the rear flank nearer to the planet."

The aide nodded and scurried over to the holocomm station on the port side of the deck.

Since Admiral Ackbar had returned in _Home One_ to Coruscant to retrieve the specialist team needed to slice into the databases of the Imperial outpost on the surface of Thyferra, Captain Salorin had temporary command of the fleet stationed there.

The whole operation had been organised as a rescue mission, she understood. The children of Han Solo and Princess Leia had been kidnapped only a month ago by an as yet unidentified Imperial agent, and the parents, and Jedi Luke Skywalker, had all pleaded with the Senate to at least _attempt_ to rescue them.

Only after a whole month of investigating every lead, every scrap of information, was the NRI able to determine that the children were being held here on Thyferra.

Salorin could only assume that the Solo children had been rescued already; the legendary _Millennium Falcon_ had left the system some several hours ago. She'd been told that the reason they planned to slice into the planet-side base's databanks was to determine the whereabouts and the identity of the Imperial or Imperials that were behind the infants' kidnapping.

The base, evidently, had been built specifically without interface ports for droids—probably as a countermeasure to a foreseen capture by the New Republic.

It made sense that the military would want to arrest those people responsible in order to prevent them from attempting it again either with the Solos or another family.

That was fine by Salorin.

However, it seemed as though the person behind the kidnappings was keen on remaining both hidden and anonymous. The encroaching Imperial fleet stated that fact as obvious as a Hutt stating that it was grossly overweight. The presence of the _Lusankya_ and its less-than-ordinary commander, Ysanne Isard, was further evidence that whoever had been responsible for the kidnapping of the infant Solos, they were obviously very well connected within certain Imperial circles.

Salorin glared across space at the massive, arrowhead-shaped bulk of the _Lusankya_, which by far eclipsed the ship she commanded.

The _Bright Star_ was an MC80-B class Mon Calamari designed heavy cruiser. She was more than a match for the standard Imperial- and Imperial II-class Star Destroyers, employed at large by the dismantled Galactic Empire and now by the Imperial Remnant. She would have decimated the Victory- and lesser-class ships within minutes. But for all of that impressive strength, all of that destructive firepower, there wasn't much that could be done against the might of an Executor-class dreadnought.

Though the fact served to sober any commander of the instinctual thrill of battle, it wasn't enough to deter Salorin from hitting the monstrosity head on with everything she had at her disposal.

"The fleet is deploying as per your instructions, ma'am." Salorin's aide was by her side once more, the sheet of flimsi in his hand again.

"Good, good," she replied with an absent nod. Her hand went to her chin as she stood there, gazing out at the Imperial flagship and trying to guess what Isard would do. "Any word of _Home One_?"

"They should be on their way back from Coruscant now," her aide replied thoughtfully. "But no; there's been no word as yet."

"Alright, it looks like we might have to go this one on our own then." She sighed and glanced over to the lieutenant sitting in front of holocomm station two. "Lieutenant, see if you can open a channel to that monstrosity. I want to speak to her commander."

"Aye, Captain," the woman replied before setting about her task. Salorin waited a moment, until the lieutenant called out; "Channel open."

"Imperial fleet, this is the commander of the New Republic third fleet. Identify your intentions at once, or leave the system equally so."

There wasn't a response at first. Salorin hadn't actually expected one. It wasn't really part of the Imperial agenda to rock up with an invasion fleet and just announce their intent before opening fire. But after a few moments of silence in which she patiently waited, a disturbingly sinister drawl came over the speakers routed through the holocomm station.

"_Good afternoon, _Bright Star_,_" Ysanne Isard said. Her voice was almost snakelike, and Salorin visibly shivered at the chills it sent up her spine. "_You're in Imperial territory. Withdraw your fleet at once, or prepare to lose it._"

Salorin frowned. "Thyferra is an unaligned system, Isard," she pointed out. "You have no jurisdictional claims to force us out."

"_You have no jurisdictional bounds to be rifling through our outpost,_" Isard countered.

_Stang_, Salorin thought to herself. They were in a standoff now. Thyferra housed both a Republic outpost and an Imperial one, and those outposts were, ostensibly, to be used only for the refining and dispatching of bacta to their respective governmental home worlds—Coruscant for the Republic, Bastion for the Remnant.

The Republic had been using their outpost for exactly that reason, hoping that it would foster enough good faith with the Imperial Remnant that they wouldn't try anything sneaky either.

But now, the Republic had been caught vandalising an Imperial installation, and it didn't matter that the Imperials weren't using it for the reasons they were supposed to. If Isard, or whomever she was here on behalf of, could convince the Remnant's leaders that the Republic had done wrong, it could quickly lead to a political incident the likes hadn't been seen in centuries.

It wasn't even exactly like the Remnant and the Republic were allies, per se. But since the failed campaign to topple the Republic by Grand Admiral Thrawn a year ago, the Remnant had been quiet and withdrawn, no doubt biding its time until it could strike again more successfully.

So therefore, avoiding such a diplomatic incident hinged on the result of the battle that was so increasingly unavoidable.

"Your outpost, Madame Isard, was operating outside its boundaries. The residents of Thyferra agreed to let the Imperial Remnant put an outpost there for bacta dispersal purposes only, not so that it could be used to house prisoners."

"_The use of our facilities is of no concern to your Republic. Withdraw your fleet at once or we _will_ destroy it, your base on the surface, and every last inhabitant of that stinking green rock!_"

"Then I'm afraid I'm going to have to put you in that position," Salorin said with a bored sigh, more to mock Isard than to express any genuinely felt boredom. "The Imperial Remnant has committed an inexcusable transgression. If you're willing to leave, we're willing to overlook it. If not, you're going to have to force _us_ out."

She nodded to the lieutenant at the holocomm and the channel was cut off before Isard could mount a biting reply.

Without pause, Salorin looked over to the banks of weapons stations to the starboard side of the command deck. "Charge all weapons and load all missile bays. Prepare to lock onto any hostile targets that break through the forward ranks and try to make a run for the planet."

Though none of the officers bothered to reply to her command, she knew that all of them would be doing exactly as she'd ordered. As such, she didn't need to wait for a response, and she turned to the next bank of stations.

"I want the shields up above normal capacity. Divert power from the hyperdrive if you have to, it's not like we'll be using it."

Salorin continued to issue orders to the respective sections until she felt confident that the _Bright Star_ was ready to survive, briefly, a direct encounter with the Imperial flagship.

Her aide, it seemed, picked up on that. "You're not thinking of taking on the _Lusankya_, are you?" he asked, worried.

"Maybe," Salorin said thoughtfully. "Isard has been a painful thorn in the Republic's side for a while now. If we can take her out, then the Imperial fleet here might lose its willingness to fight and simply retreat. And we'll have dealt a blow the Remnant, as well as doing them a favour removing an unstable element in their ranks."

"You think doing them a favour is a smart thing?"

Salorin smiled and nodded. "A gesture of good will for potential peace," she offered. When the young man didn't return her smile, she sighed. "Maybe not. But the _Lusankya_ is as yet the single most powerful ship at the Remnant's disposal. If we can destroy her, it will serve to set back any plans the Remnant has of launching another campaign against the Republic for years."

"What makes you think they're planning any such event?"

"To my knowledge, the current commander-in-chief of the Remnant is … Gilad Pallaeon, I believe." She'd almost forgotten, actually. When her aide nodded to confirm her guess, she continued. "He was Thrawn's right-hand man when the Remnant came for us a year ago. He might not be quite to par with Thrawn's genius, but I'm betting he learned a thing or two; enough to guarantee him leadership of the Remnant as well as posing a significant threat."

"If he's that much a threat, destroying the _Lusankya_ might not do anything more than sting the Empire," the aide pointed out.

"He's a threat as long as he has power to muster. Without a fleet, he's little more than a gnat."

The man nodded and returned his gaze to the forward viewport.

Salorin hadn't shifted her gaze from the viewport the entire time she'd had that conversation. So she'd been witness to the deployment of the Imperial fleet, far ahead of the forward lines of the fleet at her own disposal, and approaching the forward lines at a slow, cautious pace. She also had noticed the tiny mobile pinpricks that were the telltale signs of fighters being deployed ahead of their own lines.

"We've got incoming waves of bombers and interceptors," someone from the sensor stations reported. Salorin nodded, waited a few seconds, and then turned to the comm. stations.

"Tell the support ships at the front to open up with a suppressive barrage. I want them to blanket every last inch of space with laser fire," she said. "All currently deployed fighter squadrons are to set up picket lines just behind those forward support ships and pick off any fighters and bombers that get through."

"Yes, ma'am," one of the officers replied, more to let his comrades at adjacent comm. stations know that he was on the task.

Seconds later, she saw the corvettes at the front of the fleet moving into positions that offered the best coverage, and then begin to open fire with all available laser cannons in the direction of the approaching fighters.

Small explosions in the distance ahead of the support ships alerted her to the hits and detonations of the incoming Imperial fighters. The explosions continued to come in waves, each of them creeping closer and closer to the support ships until, finally, some explosions were either right on top of them or behind the line.

Salorin could see the tiny efflux trails of Republic fighters zipping back and forth behind the support ship lines, the red and green flashes of laser cannon fire as the Imperial and Republic ships engaged in good old fashioned dog fighting.

Her support ships continued to fire.

Smaller combat cruisers were weaving amongst her lines now, moving closer to the support ships at higher positions to offer covering fire for the bombers that were hammering the support ships' shields with proton bombs as they passed overhead.

And still, the Imperial ships came.

At the current angle of approach, they looked no more than flat, white wedges with a blocky command module atop.

The _Lusankya_ was the most misrepresented from that angle. She was such a long, gracefully thin ship when seen from above. But from this angle, she looked short and fat. If Salorin had been seeing it for the first time, she mightn't have believed that such a vessel was capable of such utter destruction.

But she had seen it before, and she did believe it.

Within minutes, the support ships and cruisers at the front of the Imperial lines came into range and opened up with rapid fire bursts from their laser cannons and turbolaser batteries.

"Destroyer and frigate groups three and seven change position and come at them from planet side," Salorin ordered. "Send the _Righteous Justice_ over with them, and have the _Sentry_ and the _Blazing Fury_ lead groups five and six out to the other side."

"You plan to pen them in, Captain?" her aide questioned.

"Precisely. If we flank them from both sides with the heavier ships straight down the middle, we might just catch them in enough of a crossfire to make them think twice about pushing the attack."

"You're betting on the fact that Isard will see your plan and back off. Not to sound disrespectful, Captain, but Madame Isard isn't well known for her …" He hesitated, and fidgeted with the corner of his report flimsi while he considered. "How best to say it."

"Her sanity?"

"Precisely."

"She might be a Palpatine-toting Imperial fanatic, and currently hold the majority sway of the Remnant's fleet," Salorin started quietly, "but how long do you think that will last if she orders the fleet she's assembled here on a suicide run, _knowing_ it's a suicide run? She'd have to resort to shooting down her own ships when her commanders decide their crews' lives are more important than her agenda. That'll turn the Remnant leadership against her and the threat she's posed for a while now will have been nullified."

"Risky manoeuvring, if I may say so," her aide said before leaving her side again.

Salorin nodded and then got back to the business at hand.

"All ships are to open fire at will the second they have a target lock. Let's make the Imperials rue the day they decided to cross the Third!"

* * *

An hour later, and things were _not_ going the way Salorin had hoped they would.

A third of the fleet was damaged or destroyed. The _Blazing Fury_ took a long range turbolaser hit straight in the command and control bridge from the_ Lusankya_, effectively taking her out of the fight. The _Righteous Justice_ had been hulled in a dozen places, and lay spinning on her axis at the edge of the battle, venting mists of atmosphere, debris, bodies.

But the _Bright Star_ was still almost at full strength, and Salorin had ordered her crew to broadside the _Lusankya_'s port flank, where the Imperial flagship's shields were weakest.

Turbolaser and missile and laser cannon fired in any which direction out there in the space surrounding Thyferra. Most found purchase on hull or shield, while the rest fizzled out or detonated in empty space or the planet's atmosphere.

So when a lone Imperial ship, at least three decades out of date, hyper jumped into the middle of the battlefield, none of the Republic commanders paid it much mind.

All of them assumed that such a ridiculously outdated ship would stand no chance against the modern weapon strength employed in the turbolaser cannons, or the detonation power in the missiles. After minutes, the Republic was forced to reassess that assumption.

A Mon Cal MC80 cruiser took the initiative of opening fire on the relic, only to have her weapons fizzle against the newcomer's shields and deal no damage to the ship at all.

More Republic commanders opened up on the Venator-class Star Destroyer, firing with all the weapons they had.

It wasn't enough.

The ship punched a hole right through the Republic's fleet lines and continued on straight for the planet. It didn't stop, and it didn't slow.

It continued on, and on, until finally, a massive blue and white fireball lit up a section of the planet's surface, wiping out everything within its deadly plasma radius, burning flesh and melting steel and disintegrating plants.

Nothing survived.

And as the Imperial fleet began to pull out, one ship at a time, the Republic commanders knew that they had lost.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A particularly vicious barrage of enemy missiles against the hull of the ship sent Zak off-balance. He was thrown along the deck sideways, but was quick in pushing himself back to his feet. He dusted off his robes, more out of habit than to clean them, and checked along both sides of the command bridge to see if anyone had been seriously hurt.

There seemed to be a few minor injuries, but nothing that warranted being replaced.

He looked over to the ship's admiral and saw him lying unconscious at the front of the deck, a couple of guards already checking his pulse and preparing to pick him up and carry him to the infirmary.

Zak nodded, not caring if the guards actually saw it; it was mostly to himself.

He would have to take command of the ship now.

While not technically a member of the Republic's military, he'd been granted a battlefield commission equivalent to an admiral for the purposes of the war effort against his nemeses.

The actual fleet commanders were the Sullustan Supreme Commander of the New Republic military, Sien Sovv, Imperial Remnant chief of state, Grand Admiral Gilad Pallaeon, and Admiral Otuma Yatumota of the new Republic. Zak was merely the Jedi representative to the fleet's efforts, and an unofficial fleet commander, should the need ever arise.

It appeared that the need had just arisen. With Otuma Yatumota incapacitated, someone was needed to coordinate the efforts of the Ninth with Pallaeon's Remnant fleet and the Fourth and Third under Sovv's command.

"I'm taking command," he said decisively to the command crew, indirectly letting the comm. officers know to relay that information to the rest of the task force, and specifically to the rest of the Ninth. "I want a report."

"Direct hit on the port-fore quadrant," the young man at the station replied without looking up from his readings. "I'm detecting structural damage on decks ten through thirteen; sections five to twelve. We've lost two missile tubes in that quadrant and a dozen assorted laser batteries."

"Where did that strike come from?" Zak asked calmly. "And why didn't the point defence lasers or the flanking support corvettes pick up those missiles?"

It was the next officer over that reported; from the tactical sensor station. "That strike came directly from the enemy flagship, General. Smart missiles; they dodged all attempts to be shot down by the corvettes and our lasers."

"Not so smart if they weren't locked onto the bridge for maximum effectiveness," Zak mumbled to himself.

Another hard impact, but no warnings this time to say what it had been. Several stations sparked violently at the impact and one overloaded, launching the middle-aged man in front of it into the panels behind him.

Zak felt the man's life force drain slowly away from him as a nearby officer rushed to aid him.

"Station, Ensign," Zak said. "There's nothing you can do for him. Tend to casualties later."

"Yes, General," the younger man replied, returning to his station.

"Now where did _that_ one come from?" Zak asked the tactical officer again.

"Enemy bomber squadron has breached the outer perimeter. They just destroyed one of the flanking gunships and debris from the explosion took out the long-range communications dish."

Zak frowned. "Contact Rogue Leader. Have her squadron take care of those rogue bombers. Then get another two squadrons detached from the perimeter to form up on the flagships in case any other bombers get through the suppression lines."

"Zak," Talia Sun said from Zak's left.

She'd been appointed to Yatumota as an aide mostly because of her many years of service as a pilot first for the Remnant, and then the Second Imperium. She'd turned defector during Luke Skywalker's mad rush to leave the Yavin system after the Imperium invaded it years ago.

"That's going to open up a hole in your picket lines."

"Stretch our fighters on the perimeter out a little bit to cover the gaps," Zak continued, taking from her advice as if the interruption hadn't happened. "And give them strict orders that any bombers trying to make a run for the capital ships take priority over maintaining the perimeter."

"Yes, General," a pair of voices called back to him at the same time.

Zak turned to the front of the deck and looked out through the transparisteel viewing port.

In the distance, over the smoking, ruined bulk of _Home One_, Zak could see the distinct triangular shapes of the Second Imperium's fleet of Star Destroyers blockading the formerly neutral planet of Kashyyyk.

Above the planet, remaining in the magnetic field generated by the planet's north-western pole, was the biggest of the ships; the flagship of the entire Imperium's fleet. The ship his friend Allina had purportedly grown up on. The ship she'd been created on. The ship commanded by none other than the self-styled Empress of the Second Imperium, daughter of the long dead Palpatine—Alitha.

The _Fury of Palpatine_.

It wasn't quite as he remembered seeing it last. Its bulk was now as if a mirror image had attached itself. It was as if two had been built and then linked together on the underside, offset enough that it looked as if there was room for another to be added to the mess.

"Commander Rogue Squadron has responded," the squadron deployment officer started. "The Rogues are coming about. She estimates that they should be upon the bomber flight within the minute."

"Very good," Zak replied, not looking away from the great ship in the distance as it hovered over Kashyyyk like a malicious demon over unsuspecting prey.

The _Fury of Palpatine_ was a monstrous ship. Looking at it now, it was easily twice the size of the _Lusankya_, and more than likely sported a far superior complement of offensive and defensive firepower than the Republic flagship. How Alitha could have had such a monster created without the knowledge of the Republic eluded Zak; unless he considered Han Solo's theory of a cancerous element working to bring down the Republic from within.

It wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. More than half a decade had passed since Zak had foiled the Imperium's plot to drive the Republic to civil war while on a mission to save Allina's life. Senators had been murdered, made to look like assassinations by member states in a bid to secede from the Republic.

Such an insurgent element would surely also control all information that could be damaging to the Imperium and make sure that it would never reach the Senate, New Republic Intelligence, or the Jedi Council. If such people existed, it would only seem to serve Jedi Knight Baril Tonac's suggestion of increasing Jedi security _within_ the entire Republic.

But such an act, Zak knew—and was grateful that the High Council had decided as much on their own—would lead to yet another fall of the Jedi Order.

Another violent shock drew him from his thoughts and he mentally kicked himself for the unwarranted distraction. "What is the status of the Interdictor in system grid ten-eight?" he asked the tactical officer.

"Uh …" The officer, caught off-guard, checked his readouts. "She's running at full power, but has no backup. There's no TIE detail deployed to cover her, the hangar bay doors are shut tight and all of the nearby Imperial cruisers are out of targeting range."

"But not 'lucky shot' range." Zak considered this information. "Get Allina out there now. We need a distraction to take their fighters away from the perimeter so that Admiral Pallaeon can move into position for the next phase of the attack. Tell her that she's to target the Interdictor's shield generators before she goes for the gravity well generator. With the generator activated to keep us jumping to hyperspace, her shields will be down and we'll want them to stay down once the GWG has been rendered inoperative."

"Incoming communication," the external comm. officer reported suddenly.

"Pallaeon?"

"No, sir, it's not coming in on a fleet channel."

"Route it through to the bridge holo emitters and put it on the pad," Zak replied with a wave. What little non-station lighting there was left on the deck dimmed slightly and Zak turned around to see that the holo pad on the deck in the centre of the bridge was glowing brightly.

Then, the holographic representation of two figures dressed completely in black robes flickered into view on the pad. They were standing apart somewhat, as if their images were being broadcast to his bridge simultaneously from two completely separate locations.

Zak recognised them both at once.

One was Alitha; her long, raven-black hair loose around her shoulders as was usual, and her dark eyes piercing into Zak's even from the bridge of her own ship. She wore her usual tight-fitting leather underneath the robe, and he could see her lightsaber clipped to the right side of the belt.

The other man was more of a shock, and he could sense the ripples of surprise and disbelief coming from those on the command deck around him; those who had not before seen the face of this Sith. It was clear that none of them had expected it.

For the other face was his own.

* * *

_**JEDI PRAXEUM; CAB'UL TUAR**_

**30:04:21 ABY:**

Zak woke with a start.

* * *

A year, it had taken the _Corellian Glory_, to reach the desolate, enigma of a planet called Cab'uL Tuar. A little planet all on its own with no star, and yet somehow had heat enough for life to survive on its surface.

It was a planet unknown to all but the Jedi Order and the Solo family, far out beyond any mapped sectors of the galaxy. To those of them still following Luke Skywalker, it represented safety.

When they arrived at their new home, they found that the facilities Han Solo had promised them had been completed. Zak hadn't truly expected much in such a short time, so he was surprised to see the massive structure of the main building which housed the Audience Chamber, the lecturing rooms, and the practice chambers.

Living quarters were separate in this new Praxeum. Adjoined to the main structure was a smaller, four-story building for the lecturers and guests to stay, and less than a minute's walk in the other direction was a wider and taller structure for students.

A little further away was a small shack which was in fact a lift tube that shot down into the planet's crust to the underground hangar where Striker Squadron's fighters, the _Recluse_ and the _Silent Hunter_ had all been docked. The planetary security stations and communications stations were located underground too, above the hangar level and accessible by the same lift tube.

But Zak Arranda soon realised that settling in to their new home was not going to be as easy as it sounded.

Everyone had left something behind—even those that had since parted company for assignments to Jedi Knights and Masters had left things behind. It would be some time before the Skywalkers could contract someone that would volunteer to return to the Yavin system to collect it all; and that was assuming the Imperium hadn't already decimated everything or taken over and thrown away all that had been left behind.

Privacy was not an issue. Since the construction crews had completed the living quarters first, everyone had a place to stay. Because their numbers were so depleted, there was even a lot of empty space. Luke Skywalker insisted that this wouldn't last.

A couple of months after they were all settled in, a small group of Jedi transports arrived in orbit of the planet and had been permitted to land in small groups around the vicinity of the new Praxeum complex to drop off supplies that had been requested. In addition, news that the Imperium had abandoned Yavin 4 itself—though maintained a stranglehold on the system—meant that cloaked ships had been able to sneak in and retrieve everything that had been left behind.

Those belongings had all been sent to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant where they had been thoroughly checked for any form of tracking device or tampering before being shipped off to their owners on Cab'uL Tuar or to the storage chambers in the Temple for those that were now formal padawans on assignments.

Luke and Mara-Jade Skywalker, and their companion Maru Chidor, restarted their lessons soon after, and soon, Praxeum life was as it once was—albeit more quietly than it had been before.

Zak was rather proud of himself, though he knew that pride could be dangerous if not moderated. His private sessions with the Jedi Master Skywalker to teach him to control or learn to stopper his visions had been concluded some months ago. For the past three years, he'd been hiding his ability as a seer from all save his closest friend Jacen, his partner Jaina, his sister Tash, and the teachers of the Praxeum.

Not even Anakin knew of his potential.

For the past year and a half, not even they had brought up the subject and Zak had been able to prevent accidentally triggering a vision by ensuring that his hands were covered at all times. Sometimes, on the rare occasions a trigger actually occurred, Zak had merely ignored the vision.

Now, the only time he had visions—and they were even rarer still—was in his dreams whenever he slept.

Many months after settling in to their new home, Zak was outside the main complex of the Praxeum in the courtyard with his sister and the Solo twins.

Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker were no longer planet-side. Supreme Commander Ackbar, leader of the New Republic's military forces, had passed away a week ago. As an old friend, and the wife of an old friend, Luke and Mara had left to attend the funeral on his home world of Mon Calamari.

Shortly before their departure, Keyan Jace had been dispatched by the Jedi Council to take over the Praxeum's operation while the Skywalkers would be away. With him came his apprentice, the beautiful Talesa Valara, and a score of young Jedi hopefuls that had been approved for training.

Once more the grounds were abuzz with noise.

In the absence of the Skywalkers, the Solos and Arrandas had decided to take it upon themselves to spar outside of their physical combat lessons. Those lessons had been put on temporary suspension until Mara Skywalker's return.

Jaina and Jacen, who had already sparred previously that day, leant casually against a nearby tree—another of the planet's endless wonders—watching as Zak and Tash traded blows with one another. Talesa sat cross-legged on the ground near them, apparently meditating.

Tash launched a feinted attack on Zak's midsection, pulled away just as quickly and thrust the same hand up towards his head as he bent forward slightly to defend from the lower attack.

Zak swung his right arm straight up to quickly block the potentially painful attack and was surprised by Tash's other hand zipping back down to meet his gut. He twisted to the side and brought up his right leg to counter it while gaining possession of her arm with his right hand. He snapped her around so that her back was pressed to his chest with her arm locked uselessly between them.

Without warning or any time for her to prepare for it, Zak hooked his left boot around Tash's ankles and shoved her forward. She stumbled and fell, hitting the ground in a ball and rolling back up to her feet. She jumped high in the air, backwards, and used the Force to add height as well as distance. She landed right in front of Zak, staring him in the eye.

He reeled backwards enough to give himself some room and then cupped both hands together and shot them straight forward towards Tash's gut. It didn't work.

She twisted to the side out of the way and then came around behind him. Once in position, she turned away and dropped, bracing herself on the ground with her hands and then kicking out towards the back of Zak's knees.

Zak had seen the attack by use of the Force a split second before it had been implemented and was able to avoid half of it. However, his left knee was now in excruciating pain from Tash's strike.

He heard the trio of gasps coming from the Solos and Valara and sensed Tash's triumphant smile. He was determined to wipe it from her face.

Once he recovered from the kick to the knee, he stepped down into the classic teräs käsi defensive stance; dropping so that his left knee was inches from the ground, and his right leg was at a right-angle in front of him. His left arm extended straight out and his right alongside it was also at a right-angle upwards.

Tash slipped into a kithri defence stance, balancing on her right leg with her left leg extended out to the side. Both of her arms were raised above her head and her hands formed serpent-like heads aimed at Zak's direction.

Tash made the first move; racing towards her younger brother with lightening speed and chopping down towards him with both arms.

Zak responded by spinning around on his right foot while launching his left out to meet the attack. Tash couldn't change tactics quickly enough and after her forearms impacted and bounced off his calf, his foot connected with her chest.

Zak planted his left foot back down on the ground as his sister flew backwards and hit the ferrocrete courtyard hard several meters away. Both the Solos raced over to her side to see how she was; Zak getting there a split second after they helped her back to her feet.

Talesa's eyes snapped open and she pushed herself to her feet as she watched the aftermath of the sparring session.

"Tash, are you alright?" Zak asked frantically as his sister leaned heavily against the Solos after getting to her feet.

One of her hands clutched at her breast as she gasped greedily for breath; the other hand was rubbing the back of her head.

Zak was far from smiling. He knew she'd recover from the breathlessness and that the pain would subside, but he hadn't meant for his strike to be that powerful. Not against Tash.

"I'm … fine," she wheezed. She stopped rubbing her head and placed her now free hand on her brother's shoulder to reassure him. "Just … a little … winded."

Zak dropped his gaze to the ground in embarrassment.

"Listen, little brother," Tash started. "It was … was a perfectly le … legitimate manoeuvre. Don't beat yourself … up over it."

From her speech, it was clear that she was regaining her breath quickly and recovering. Zak knew that her current pause was so she could draw in more breath before she spoke again.

"I'm fine. You just … don't be so distressed about it. I'll survive like I always have. You know perfectly well that I will. Now; be a dutiful little brother and help … help me to my room. I have … I had a splitting headache the size of the Deep Core that needs to be slept off."

Zak nodded and replaced Jacen as a support for his sister. He nodded to Jaina on her other side, who then disentangled herself from Tash's arm and stepped back before Zak turned and guided Tash in the direction of the student living quarters.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Later in the day, everyone enlisted at the Praxeum to learn or instruct could be found in the new Grand Audience Chamber on the upper-most level of the main Praxeum building. They were all meditating in mass upon instruction by Jedi Knight Keyan Jace. He had made it common practice for all to participate in the activity at least once daily, and had stated the numerous positive effects that it could bestow when done with the fullest commitment.

After the first of such session, Zak had definitely noticed a difference in himself; he was calmer, the contained rage within him brought on by the Sith years ago was almost not present at all, and Zak found himself closer to peace than he could ever remember being.

Before Keyan Jace's regime of daily mass meditations, it had been quite some time since Zak had participated in a joint meditation. He had not done so since he and Jaina had been held captive aboard an Imperium space station by Darth Pravus. And before that, he hadn't at all because Luke had suggested it might have triggered one of his visions. As such, he had not meditated with a group larger than Jaina and himself, and certainly not one of this size. He found the experience quite pleasing; soothing.

The older Jedi had also hinted that at the end of the day's meditative session, which was even now coming to a close for the afternoon, there was an announcement to be made that the vast majority, if not everyone, would be eager to hear.

In truth, Zak was already aware of the impending announcement. He had a hand in it. Just yesterday he had approached the senior Jedi and put forth an idea that he thought was sound and well within regulations to be allowed. Both he and Allina had discussed it in some detail for a time before coming to the decision that they should bring it to Jace's attention. They had originally planned to ask Luke Skywalker for his thoughts, but as they had not at the time decided themselves if it was feasible enough to bother, they had missed the opportunity and spent much more time discussing it amongst themselves whenever they had time outside their studies to do so.

However, he made sure that no one plucked the idea from his mind without realizing it, and he had asked Allina to discuss it with no one. He successfully was able to keep his thoughts from Jaina, Jacen and Tash, so to the best of his knowledge not one of them suspected what he was about to spring on them.

He could feel the ripples of everyone else's reaches out to the Force as they brushed over, around, and through him and everyone else. There were so many unfamiliar minds in the mass, so many new comrades that had joined them. He felt Jaina's mind in constant contact with his own, as if that were the sole purpose for her own intense concentration. He did not mind, nor did he try to deflect her as she probed his thoughts—intentionally?

Perhaps she had suspected that he was keeping some important information from her. If so, her suspicions were correct, even though she would not know what it was just yet. He doubted she would be able to read him past the barriers he had in place. Not even Luke Skywalker, who could read the minds of the Jedi High Council even through their own mental defences, had said that Zak's mind occasionally remained a mystery to him.

Maybe that was because, as his sister had put it, his mind was so full of junk and nonsense that it was impossible to discern anything intelligible amongst the flotsam. She had meant it in jest, as Zak knew that she in fact agreed with Skywalker that Zak had grown quite powerful. Out of stubborn pride, he also knew, she would never admit this to a soul.

Jaina, on the other hand, had no qualms admitting it. And neither was any other Jedi he came across. Word had spread fast of his brutal dispatch of the Sith that had kidnapped he and Jaina, and some few even feared that such a rapid jump in power for one so new to the Force would corrupt him; turn him into the next Darth Vader, or Palpatine.

Jaina was quite powerful herself; close to her uncle's level and definitely at par with her aunt and Jedi teacher. She constantly challenged Zak in puzzles of the mind and of the body. Occasionally, she would spring a lightsaber duel on him out of nowhere, just to keep him on his toes and to better them both while they were at it.

He had learned quickly to keep his lightsaber on him at all times.

That was why Zak loved her so much.

Yes, after three years together—the first of which Zak was hesitant to include as he had not been of his normal frame of mind for most of that time—he had finally allowed himself to realise that his feelings for Jaina were more than just a passing infatuation or a simple teenage crush. He loved her, and not even his sister had tried to dissuade him. He knew that Jaina felt the same way toward him. She had been the first to say it to him, back on Navii Lya Prime after they had spent a passionate night rolling around under the covers, bringing all sorts of pleasure to the other.

And he had said it right back to her.

Reflecting on the group meditation, Zak took note of each of his peers' minds and the different auras that they each emanated, each having a unique influence on his mind.

Where Jaina was the symbol of his sensitivity and his passions, Tash was his cheerfulness, joy and sense of familial connections. Jacen's thoughts were a partial reflection of Zak's love for all life, and his recognition and respect for the power of the Living Force, while Tenel Ka reflected his strength, cunning and instincts. Rebekah Jordan, the young woman whose home he had stumbled into in his first days at the Praxeum on Yavin 4, was the curiosity and the sympathy within Zak, while Matilda Perisca of Striker Squadron bore clear signs of his own sense of teamwork and dependence. Then there was the Shi'ido, Wanom Catoxle, whose adaptability and quick thinking were far stronger than Zak's.

Then there were all the new students, who had been studying the ways of the Jedi for less time than Zak. Each one of them brought out his protective nature, as he was sure he would do all he could to keep them as safe as they would try to keep each other in years to come. And finally, there were the guests; Keyan Jace and Talesa Valara. Jace's wisdom and intellect were the parent flames to the sparks in the newer students, and the fires that burned within the remaining experienced ones. Valara's compassion and empathy were the figures that cast the shadows of those same emotions within Zak.

Zak felt outward for Jaina. Searching for her mind and finding it, he entangled himself wholly amongst her thoughts through the Force. Even through shut eyes, he could see her smile as she felt him there, and he felt her mind reach back into his own in the same way, entwining her thoughts with his in a purely spiritual connection that they had reflected had kept them sane through their captivity by the Sith years ago.

_Hello, my love_, he heard her say without words. A smile crept upon his own lips as he set up walls around their minds to ensure their privacy from everyone else. Zak was not ashamed to be with her, or she with him; but the last thing either of them wanted was for one of their peers—especially one of their siblings—reading their private thoughts to one another.

It's been too long, Zak thought, knowing that Jaina would pick it up instantly. It had been too long since he and Jaina had succumbed to the desire to entwine their thoughts for hours on end in a shared meditation; to lose themselves in the pleasures and the peace of each other's minds and ignore all else that went on with the world. Neither of them had had much time for it in the past year and a half.

On board the _Corellian Glory_ en-route to Cab'uL Tuar, they had rarely given in to the desire whilst they slept. But then they had run into the Empress on Navii Lya Prime, and had been preoccupied with escaping her and the aftermath of the encounter to immerse themselves in the practice. And then, planetside, Zak had obligations to fulfil—helping Mara-Jade plan the unarmed combat lessons was hardly easy work, and often just the planning was enough to exhaust him.

As if Zak's comfort within Jaina's mind was some kind of hidden signal, his ears pricked at the sound of a double-clap from Keyan Jace far to the front of the chamber. The sound was to signify the end of the meditation, and Zak silently cursed the inconvenient timing.

Disengaging himself from Jaina's mind, he picked up on a single thought from her as their privacy walls began to gently collapse into their own minds: _Later!_

He opened his eyes and looked to his immediate right to see Jaina opening her own eyes and breathing a heavy, contented sigh. He nodded to her very briefly, and she smiled back at him.

Looking around, he saw that the same awakenings were happening all across the chamber; Jedi pupils—his peers, friends, sister—Jace, Valara and Maru Chidor were all opening their eyes. They looked around at each other briefly before focussing all of their concentration and attention on the elder Jedi at the front of the chamber on the dais.

Zak felt the tension and apprehension in the room return just a fraction, and he knew right away that it was because the Jedi Knight was about to speak.

"Now, as I have come to understand; before my time here, very few of you had meditated in a group, or a group of this size, before. I trust that the experiences over this past week so far have been rejuvenating and enlightening," Keyan Jace started with a broad grin. He looked around at all of the young Jedi in front of him. "As I mentioned when you had all settled in this evening; I have something to say to you all.

"It has been brought to my attention that when Master Skywalker is supervising the training of those at his facility, he grants his students brief periods of reprieve and sometimes organises recreational activities to participate in to get away from the tediousness of constant study. These are things that I … am not used to." He shot an uneasy look at Talesa Valara, who nodded back with a sly grin as if this amused her. "These are things that they do not do at any of the other Praxeums that I have visited, or indeed at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Having spoken with a couple among you, I have come to believe that it will take more than just this group meditation to relieve the building stress and tension I sense before me. It would be negligent of me as an instructor to allow the stresses of study and recent events to build to interfering or dangerous levels.

"As such, I have seen fit to organise a five-day respite starting next week, and I would call young Zak Arranda and Allina Palpatine to come down here to discuss something further with you all."

Despite Zak's urgings, Allina had retained her family name after joining their number. Though he felt that, as his blood, she had as much right to take his name as he and Tash did, Allina had stated that she wanted to keep the name she had been given, as she desired to prove to everyone that the problems of the dark side were not in the name or the blood, but in the people.

As Zak expected, at the sound of her family name, there were a few gasps of shock, and the tension level increased twenty-fold. None of these new editions to Skywalker's Praxeum knew of Allina's beginnings, or of her good heart. Not like Zak and his friends, and even Keyan Jace and Talesa Valara, knew.

Zak took his queue and stood up from his seat. He sensed Jaina's eyes widen in shock and her frantic attempts to pry into his thoughts for something that had just been confirmed he had been keeping from her. He blocked her clumsy attempts with a smile, but did not look back as he proceeded past his sister and Jacen to the end of the aisle. He met Allina there and the two of them turned down the narrow path between the two banks of seats. The proceeded down to the dais and skipped up the steps to stand just slightly behind and to the side of the Jedi Knight.

Jace stepped aside and Zak and Allina stepped forward to take his place.

Without pausing to thank the Jedi, as was not required, Zak spoke. "As Master Jace has mentioned prior to inviting me to stand here now to speak with you, there is a respite from study coming up very shortly, and I must confess that even though it is so soon into the beginnings of training for most of you here, I am one of the few that recommended the break."

He did not pause to wait for a reaction; he could sense already that many of his peers had suspected as much. The other such person had been Jacen, who was always looking for an excuse to dart off into the mysterious forest to discover its secrets.

"I have spoken at length to both Masters Jace and Chidor, and have received their combined blessing to proceed with an activity that we thought everyone would enjoy. Therefore; I have organised a combat tournament to take place for a three-day period following our respite for the more experienced of us to provide the less experienced people with a little entertainment, and a hands-on look at some of our fighting styles which may help you later in your training when you start into lightsaber studies.

"There will, however, be restrictions; do not kid yourselves. We are not darksiders here," he added with a nervous chuckle. "Lightsabers of those participating in the combat tournament will be turned in to either Master Keyan Jace or Master Maru Chidor for alterations to non-lethal settings. The idea would be that a lightsaber would then, on contact, give off the same shock that a static charge might.

"The tournament will be held in the courtyard outside this building during the day cycle, and the boundaries will be set out by myself or my planning-partner sometime before the tournament begins." He paused and looked back over his shoulder at Allina, who nodded for him to continue. He turned his head back to the front. "To those of you eligible for participation in this event, keep in mind that it is strictly voluntary and no one wanting to take part should feel obligated. For those of you interested, see either myself or Allina, or one of the Jedi instructors by the end of this week to have your place secured. I urge the rest of you, should you be interested of course, to consider coming along to watch the tournament. I promise it to be quite the event."

He finished and turned his head to nod at Keyan Jace before stepping aside out of the way.

Jace didn't bother stepping back to the middle of the dais. He waved absently to all the seated Jedi. "Dismissed."

Zak watched as everyone around the chamber pushed themselves up from their seats and began to make their ways to the exit at the rear. Allina stepped up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around.

"And so the fun begins," she said with a grin.

Zak groaned.

"Young Zak," a voice came from behind him. Zak turned side on so that he could see Keyan Jace as well as Allina. "You and Allina have done extraordinarily well in planning this, young man. Congratulations to you both."

"Perhaps a little early for congratulations, Master," Allina said pessimistically.

"Optimism, Allina … optimism. I sensed great interest and anticipation from a great many of your peers. I may hold you to your word on the intensity of this tournament." With that said, he bowed his head to them both and stepped off the dais to join his apprentice in departing the audience chamber.

Jaina, Jacen, Anakin and Tash approached them, all grinning from ear to ear.

Jaina reached him first, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I knew it!" she said. "You _were_ hiding something! Just how long have the two of you been planning this?" she asked, looking from Zak to Allina.

"Not much more than a month, I'd say," Allina replied with a shrug. "We were going to ask Master Skywalker when new students arrived, which they have, but since he isn't here we asked Master Jace instead. We decided to keep it from you all for surprise's sake. We didn't want to take the risk that one of you might be read by someone accidentally and the whole surprise would have been ruined for everyone else."

"Not as if we didn't want you to know," Zak assured them, snaking his right arm around Jaina's waist and leading the group out of the hall through the north-eastern staircase that led to the roof of the building. "And the best thing is that neither Master Chidor nor Master Jace had anything to say against it after they talked to us about it at length."

"Sure, they both had legitimate concerns about safety. Master Chidor didn't want to see any accidental injuries."

"But then Allina made the suggestion about fixing participants' lightsabers' power levels so that they wouldn't be a danger," Zak added.

"Well I, for one," Jacen started, "am looking forward to it. I'd like the chance to hone my 'saber skills against you lot." He grinned, but when only Tash returned it, became serious again. "But seriously, Zak," he said, "just how many people are you really expecting to participate. Aside from us, Valara, Jace and Chidor, there aren't many that meet your requirements for participation."

"There's bound to be a few. I wasn't expecting this to be a lengthy thing. Just something to provide some entertainment and possibly even a morale boost with the absence of Master Skywalker and all that's happened over the past couple of years."

"Besides," Allina chimed in, "as Zak pointed out; it'll be a fantastic opportunity for the younglings to get a look at the way some of us fight. I mean, for example: I prefer to use the Jar'Kai style while Zak favours Vaapad. The newer students will get the chance to see how those two styles work against each other."

"Well I think it's a brilliant idea!" Jaina commented as Zak unlocked and opened the door at the top of the steps. They all stepped outside into the cool evening air.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Allina kept her eyes fixed on her target as he dodged to the left, avoiding a potentially eliminating blow from her. The lightsaber in her left hand whizzed past Zak's ear, crackling violently through the air. He fell sideways away from the blade, deactivating his lightsaber and tucking his arms and legs in. He rolled to the side and put a little distance between the two of them.

The tournament had been proceeding smoothly for the better part of the day so far. All of the participants had had the chance to duel everyone else and that had cumulated to Zak and Allina reaching the final bout together. Both of them had watched each other's matches carefully, each of them knowing deep down that they would both make it to the end.

Jacen had eliminated his sister in the earlier rounds by pulling off a highly unorthodox move of putting himself fully inside Jaina's inner defences when she was striking outward at him. As she brought her lightsaber back around to get to him, he ducked under it, rolled backwards, and used the force to shove the blade against her side. The impact had been the third, which was the number needed to be eliminated from the tournament. Jacen had been on his second strike at the time, so the match could have gone either way.

Tash had duelled Talesa Valara, who had beaten her three strikes to one. Even Tash had admitted that the one strike she had scored against Talesa had been purest luck and completely unexpected.

Before Zak and Allina's bout had been scheduled, the most spectacular had been between Keyan Jace and Maru Chidor. Keyan Jace at the start of the bout had confirmed the rumours that it would be one of the very few times he had ever used his lightsaber. The bout between the two seasoned Jedi had lasted for more than two hours before finally Chidor landed the third hit and Jace bowed out gracefully. However, Maru Chidor's victory had been short-lived, as his next opponent had been Zak and he had been eliminated in less than twenty minutes.

Zak had been just as surprised at this as the older Jedi had been. He suspected, and so did Jaina, that some of the knowledge he had ripped from Darth Pravus' mind when electrocuting him to death had remained handy, while the rest slowly faded away and were forgotten. And that knowledge added to his own Jedi training and to his instincts made him quite formidable, apparently.

Now that they were up to the finals, everyone was interested in seeing the outcome of a bout between two Jedi with two different types of weapons and two completely different styles of combat. Both Zak and Allina had their fans—the latter surprised by this seen as though many were still wary of her heritage.

Allina swung down with both of her lightsabers and they impacted the ferrocrete just inches from where Zak had rolled to. He hadn't put as much distance between them as he had thought, and she had caught up to him quickly.

Zak looked up at her to see her grinning back at him. She'd known that he had been momentarily distracted for a second.

He jumped to his feet, reactivated his lightsaber, and brought one of the blades of his own lightsaber around in front of him, passing it from hand to hand behind his back, and struck out at Allina. She brought her left-hand lightsaber around to meet it, while the one in her right hand came in from underneath at an offset angle.

Zak removed his lightsaber a split-second earlier than Allina had anticipated and her second lightsaber met nothing but air and continued up and over her head. She brought it to a halt and rotated the hilt in her hand so that the tip of the blade pointed toward Zak.

He swung high to draw her blade back down into his field, but Allina was not so blind to the plan he had for that. She blocked with the lightsaber in her left hand again. Zak retaliated by lancing out to the right, and she blocked that move as well with the lightsaber in her left hand.

Zak thrust his blades left, and then high and to the right, and then low, and then again back to the left, alternating the blades he used with each movement and shuffling his feet to get into the appropriate positioning. All four strikes were halted by the single blade Allina was determined to keep him at bay with, frustrating him. She could sense that it was working.

Zak spun on his right foot and brought his weapon's right-side blade sweeping towards her ankles. He obviously expected her to jump the move, which would force her to move the lightsaber in her right hand as she repositioned. Instead, she countered by thrusting that blade into the path of the incoming gold-and-white blur. The two blades held there, each trying to shove the other out of the way and neither giving any ground.

Allina watched him swing with the other blade again and her left blade crossed in front of her chest to get into place. She dodged backwards to avoid a stabbing move to the belly and Zak pounced.

She sensed him land flat-footed behind her and didn't bother to turn. He wouldn't attack just yet. He jumped again, and landed to her left, and then jumped again and landed in front of her where he had started. But though she was keeping track of his movements through the Force, she could not actually see him with her eyes. And then … even the Force could not locate him.

She spun to where she had last sensed him land and brought both of her lightsabers up defensively in preparation of whatever attack he would try to press upon her. But he wasn't there. She spun again to see if Zak had jumped back to his starting position—nothing!

Cautiously, she lowered both of her lightsabers until they pointed to the courtyard ferrocrete beneath her feet. She looked back and forth across the designated combat area, looking for any sign of Zak. All she could see was the spectators over near the main building. She looked down at her own feet, but saw only a shadow—a shadow that seemed just a little too large to be hers.

It took less than a second to click and she obeyed her instincts to look up. She dodged to her left just in time to avoid being crushed as Zak dropped from the overhanging light fixture like a mynock in flight; his black robes flapping behind him in the upward gust his drop created. His lightsaber was still in both hands and he stood there before her, feet slightly apart and lightsaber at a defensive angle, waiting for her to make the next move now that his had failed.

Allina circled around to Zak's left and he turned with her, but as yet she made no aggressive moves. They continued to circle each other for a moment, staring intently into each others' eyes to determine the opposing strategy. Allina continually shifted her thoughts, her plans. She knew that Zak would be keeping a read on her constantly, and she could not afford to remain on one course of action, one intention, for it would be useless in getting past his lightsaber.

He was too strong in the Force for her to fool in that way, so she resolved to stick with her superior skills with a lightsaber rather than using the other avenue. It was what would allow her victory, should victory come her way.

Without thinking about it, so that Zak could not pick it from her thoughts, she slashed left to right with both of her lightsabers. Zak didn't see it coming, she sensed, but his reflexes were good enough to make up for that lack of insight. He dodged to the left and then again to the right, and rolled. When he came back up, it was on his hands, and he pushed hard against the floor and sent himself into the air.

Allina kept her eyes on him this time, not eager to allow him to surprise her again like he had only a moment ago. How could he have moved that fast? Sure, she could reason that he was imperceptibly fast at times, when he wanted to be, but even that one manoeuvre was surely beyond even his capabilities. It had been beyond anything he had shown himself capable of in all of the time that she had spent with Skywalker and his students.

Zak landed behind her with the quietest of thuds, and she spun on the spot to meet his oncoming weapon. Both of her lightsabers made sharp contact with his, forming an inverted V. All three weapons wailed against each other, sparking. Zak drew away and Allina took a step back as well to prepare for his next assault. She knew that Zak preferred the fighting style of Vaapad, which meant that he would be on the offensive a lot.

It didn't come right away. She wasn't prepared for _that_. She wanted him to attack, wanted him to do something so that she could do something other than just standing there looking at him and waiting to see what he was going to do.

He didn't disappoint, though. Allina spun to the left around Zak's downward slash and jabbed behind her with the lightsaber in her right hand. She didn't feel it connect with anything—lightsaber or other—so she assumed that she had missed entirely and continued to spin on her foot until she found herself looking at Zak's back.

He still had not recovered from his failed attempt to hit her, so Allina decided to take advantage of his seeming unawares of her. She swung high from the right with the 'saber in her left hand, and a second later her other weapon came swinging from the left towards his legs.

For a few glorious seconds, she even thought she had him beat. Two strikes and a third one could be landed just as quickly if she was fast enough. Super speed included, she couldn't see how Zak could deflect both of her weapons at once. She was swinging them both fast enough that he had no time to jump or roll out of the way. He would have to somehow defend.

And again, he surprised her.

Allina was getting just a little bit frustrated with that.

She'd been spending too much time and concentration in watching his back, watching his apparent inaction, and wondering how he could possibly get out of this one, that she missed the swift movement of his arms. His lightsaber came around behind him in the hand of one bent arm. It connected with the first of her lightsabers, and even though she half-expected that the force of her strike would send his weapon flying from his grip, she knew that realistically it wasn't too likely to happen. He spun on his foot and gripped onto the middle of his lightsaber's hilt with both hands, slashing back towards the other of her weapons.

With both weapons batted away, Allina suddenly found herself vulnerable. She needed to move—quickly.

_Left! Go left_, a voice whispered into her mind, ethereal and completely unlike Zak's thought-voice. She trusted the voice, assuming that it was from within herself, and stepped to the left—

—And straight into one of the golden blades of Zak's lightsaber. She ignored the static of the charge that surged through her neck at the impact, followed by another one at the midpoint of her back and a third sweeping out her ankles.

The voice in her head, she immediately realised. She should not have been silly enough to trust it. Zak. It had to have been Zak. He had sent her the message telling her exactly where he wanted her, so that she would set up his victory for him.

With a defeated smile, she pressed down on the activation switches of her lightsabers, watching as the blades sucked instantly back into nothingness before she belted both of the handles.

There were murmurs of excitement and surprise amongst the spectators many feet away from her, but she paid them no mind as Zak deactivated his lightsaber and approached her. She kept her eyes locked with his, on the sly grin on his face, and fought back a legitimate smile of her own.

As far as she was concerned, he had used an unfair tactic to gain his victory. But then, the memories she held led her to believe that she could never really accept a loss. She might stew about his advantage for a little while just to make him sweat and worry that he had offended her, to make him think she was angry with him.

In truth, she wasn't. She was proud that he had found a way to beat her. It was rare that anyone bested her in lightsaber combat. She was better than anyone else that she knew, and was hardly remiss at reminding people. Often, Keyan Jace had seen to remind her that humility was a strong Jedi trait.

Zak and Allina approached each other and shook hands, smiling—though hers was a forced one; polite. She still refused to allow a genuine smile reach her lips, lest Zak know how proud she was.

"Next time, Allina," Zak said softly with a nod. She nodded and both of them turned to watch as Keyan Jace and Talesa Valara strode across the courtyard towards them. He was beaming proudly, his arms out to either side as if to draw them both into an embrace. All of the spectators followed him over, chattering excitedly.

"Well done!" he congratulated. Allina allowed the smallest of smiles through at those words.

She took a moment to check the chronometer strapped to her wrist

THREE AND A HALF HOURS!

She couldn't believe it!

Beside her, she felt Zak smiling as well. Both of them bowed their heads when the teacher and spectators approached them. Jace draped an arm over each of them, turning in that same moment so that he too was facing the crowd that had followed him.

"Well done to both of you," he continued, rewarding them both with another broad, prideful smile. "And to the rest of the participants; I would like to commend you all on your lightsaber skills. All of you fought brilliantly. I can now see why Master Skywalker is so proud of his students and why his reputation as a mentor is as it is. While in a competition, there can really be only one winner; I would like to think that all of you have seen the minor victories you have obtained through loss."

There were a few cheers from the crowd, mostly from Tash and Jacen. Anakin and Rebekah cheered too, but theirs were more subdued. Allina took note that Jaina was silent, unlike her brothers, but that the grin on her face was suggestive, yet proud, and none of her business to probe. So she didn't.

And for some reason, a stab of emotion she could only describe as jealousy ripped through her, and she was careful to make sure that no one saw or sensed it as the congratulations continued over the next hour.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Only a day after the dramatic conclusion to Zak and Allina's lightsaber tournament—in which Zak had won out over Allina in the finals after having eliminated all others—Talesa Valara led the contest's winner and Jacen Solo up a steep mountain face.

Earlier in hers and her master's time at the new Praxeum, she had gone off alone exploring the area around the complex. She had had to rely heavily on the Force for guidance at the time, since lighting equipment had only been installed in and around the complex itself, and not much further out from the grounds. Now, the three of them carried glowrods attached to their belts and forearms as they traversed the mountain.

During her explorations, she had come across a cave entrance in the side of a particularly unspectacular mountain. At the time, with no reliable lighting available save her lightsaber, she had been reticent about exploring the cave further. After the tournament's end, her master had uncharacteristically given everyone another day off. So she had gone to see him and asked if she could take a couple of friends exploring. Knowing that her curiosity was not something to be restrained, Keyan Jace had allowed her the favour and she had gone straight to Zak see if he was interested.

She had planned to take Jaina along with them as well. She was just as intensely curious about the bond—the relationship—that had formed between the two as she was about the cave. Though she reserved herself from outright interrogation on the subject, she thought that a day in the mountains watching their interactions would have been sufficient in gauging just how deeply they felt for one another and just how finely attuned to each other they had become.

Unfortunately, Jaina had assigned herself to the dubious task of supervising the initial phases of construction for the new Praxeum's planetary defences: an ion cannon. As such, she had been unable to join her on her trek. But her twin, Jacen, had been with Zak when Talesa had asked him about his interest, and _he_ had expressed interest in going along, if only to avoid being drafted by Jaina into her new project.

Talesa hoisted herself over another outcropping of rock and looked around for the familiar landing she had come across last time. She saw it several meters away to the east and started over towards it, keeping her senses attuned to Zak and Jacen in case one of them slipped and tumbled down the mountain face.

Jacen had been less than enthusiastic about climbing without safety gear, but he hadn't openly complained thus far.

"We're almost there," she called over her shoulder as she hooked her toes into a crevice for a good hold. She heard Jacen grunt back a reply, and sensed Zak's amused smile. At least _he_ was enjoying the climb.

She swung her arm out and grasped at rock with her fingers. It crumbled away and she flattened herself against the rock, letting her toes and the fingers of her other hand dig into their holds in the rock face. She waited for a moment before trying again; this time finding secure purchase and swinging her body around after it to hook her toes and remaining fingers into new holding points. Zak followed behind her and Jacen followed after him.

She crossed the remaining distance without incident and grabbed hold of the lip of the landing with her fingers. She pushed against the rock face beneath it with the flats of her feet and flipped head-over onto the platform, pushing off with her hands so that she was standing upright.

Zak followed, going that little bit further and actually pushing hard enough that coming over he actually launched a couple of feet into the air and landed beside her with a gentle thud that might have crumbled any weaker landing.

Talesa watched as Jacen grasped the lip of the outcropping, and watched still as his fingers slipped.

On instinct, both she and Zak dropped to their stomaches and flattened themselves against the gritty landing as they reached out for each of Jacen's flailing arms.

"Careful!" Talesa hissed through gritted teeth as the weight of his fall dragged her a half-dozen centimetres closer to the edge.

"I meant to do that," Jacen said, though he sounded wholly unconvinced. "You can pull me up … any second now, guys," he added.

"On three," Zak said to her. She nodded. "One, two, _three_!"

They both hoisted and Jacen's arms and upper torso made it over the edge. Neither of them let go of his wrists as they pushed themselves backwards onto their rumps and pulled again. Jacen's lower torso made it over, making it safe for them to let go. They did and Jacen pulled his legs over the edge and shoved off to his feet, dusting off his clothes.

Zak stood next, running nervous fingers through his hair as he looked back and forth from Jacen to the edge, and then back again.

Talesa looked up at the both of them. "That was very close, Jacen," she said quietly. "Next time be careful before you go making leaps like that."

"Next time?" Jacen asked incredulously. "What makes you think there'll _be_ a next time after that? If I never see a cliff face again it will be too soon."

"We still have to get back," Zak pointed out with a sly grin.

"To Mustafar with that," Jacen said stubbornly. "I'll call Jaina for one of the skiffs."

Talesa giggled as she got to her feet, with Zak's help, and touched her lightsaber reassuringly to make sure she hadn't lost it.

"OK, let's go," she said. She turned around and led the way through a narrow path in the rock face. Zak squeezed along behind her, and again Jacen brought up the rear. She ignored the almost sharp jabs of rock that poked at her exposed ribs and arms and pressed on through the rocks until she reached a small, round clearing.

"This," Zak said, appearing beside her and dusting off his shirt, "is new."

They were standing in an absence of rock. It wasn't an overly large area—big enough for one of the Praxeum skiffs to land in, but it would still be scratched and dented by the time it took to the air again. The sky was open above them; the distant stars twinkling seductively down upon them, revealing nothing in comparison to their glowrods. About twenty meters ahead of them was a black, gaping hole in the rock.

Upon first encountering the cave entrance, and with no light, Talesa had had to rely on touch to examine it. At the time, she had deduced from that sense that the cave mouth was artificial in nature; perhaps constructed, deliberately hidden by all the surrounding rock. Now that she had a glowrod with her that illuminated it, she could see that she was right. The rock was too smooth to have been eroded away naturally. And if it had been melted by volcanic activity, it would have been filled in.

"That is most definitely not normal," Jacen said when they approached it.

"I would guess that it was artificially moulded," Talesa informed them as they stepped under the lip of the entrance. The walls of the cave ahead of them were just as smooth as the entrance itself.

"Do we …" Jacen hesitated. "Do we _want_ to go in there?"

"I can't sense any danger," Zak said with a shrug.

"Just because you can't sense danger, doesn't mean danger isn't there," Jacen pointed out. There was a snap-hiss from behind Talesa and an unnatural green glow filled the cave around them. "Just in case," Jacen said, holding his lightsaber high.

Talesa grabbed hers from her belt, but kept it deactivated and relied on her glowrod and Jacen's lightsaber to light the way.

When they came to a bend in the tunnel, Jacen let out a surprised yelp behind them and Talesa whirled on the spot and activated her lightsaber at once, adding her own blade's green glow to that produced by her friend's.

Zak followed suit, arcs of electricity dancing between his fingers in anticipation.

But there was nothing there. Jacen looked back at them with horror in his eyes and his hands up defensively.

"Don't shoot!" he said to Zak.

Talesa watched Zak lower his hand with a frown, and the electrical arcs popped and disappeared. "Don't do that!" he hissed.

"What was wrong, Jacen," Talesa added with a frown of her own. She clicked her weapon's blade off and belted the hilt.

"Oh, just this," Jacen said. He raised his lightsaber close to the wall to reveal what Talesa and Zak had both missed.

"Is that ... ancient Alderaanian?" Zak asked, and took a step closer.

"It looks like ancient Coruscanti to me," Talesa replied. Jacen nodded in agreement with her, but it seemed that Zak wasn't convinced of this.

"No, seriously," he said. He pointed to a group of symbols in the cluster on the wall and added, "That's ancient Alderaanian for 'secret.' And that"—he pointed to another group only microns away—"is 'danger.' I would know those groupings anywhere."

"Or," Jacen responded thoughtfully, "it's ancient Coruscanti for 'knowledge' and 'beware'."

"I concur with Jacen," Talesa said while maintaining her frown.

"Peculiar," Zak muttered. "What does the rest say?"

"You can't read it?" Jacen asked.

"I wasn't very … attentive in my ancient history classes when I was younger. I remember a few words but that's about it."

Talesa chuckled. "I shall translate," she said, and then added, "and paraphrase."

_Long we waited for such as you  
__To travel along this path;  
__Discover our secrets if you dare  
__Or walk away, saved of despair;  
__For many cycles we watched you all  
__Across your evolutions;  
__And in that time this rock attained  
__But a single revolution;  
__Now our bones are of dust  
__Our people are all gone;  
__But we've left behind our legacy  
__Beware: you have been warned._

"Now that … sounds very, very interesting. Wouldn't you agree?" Zak said with a chuckle.

"'Saved of despair'?" Jacen furrowed his eyebrows in thought and Talesa shot him a questioning look. "What's that supposed to mean? What's to despair about discovering secrets?" he said.

"It could be something dangerous, Jacen," Zak pointed out. "Or maybe something innocuous unless used by the wrong person."

"Yeah, I guess," Jacen mused. "But I like the sound of discovering the legacy of a dead race. And find out why it appears in Coruscanti to us and Alderaanian to you?"

Talesa felt Zak's interest spike, alongside her own, and she turned around to lead the way further down the tunnel. Jacen's lightsaber shut off and he raised his arm to add more light to their path from the glowrod strapped to it.

"Knew you'd come around," Talesa whispered as they rounded another corner …

… and stopped.

Ahead of them was a solid iron plate. Talesa assumed that it was a doorway of some sort, except that she could see no apparent seams between the plate of iron and the smooth rock walls. Jacen and Zak stepped up alongside her and examined it for themselves.

"What the …" Zak muttered.

"This is odd," Jacen added.

Talesa chanced a step forward. Almost as if in reaction to the movement, the centre of the iron plate swirled like liquid and formed a new set of words.

"Same as before?" Zak asked.

"No," Talesa said softly, reading. "Listen;"

_Power is nothing without it.  
__Knowledge alone does not grant it.  
__Age accrues it.  
__What do you seek?_

"A riddle?" Zak said. "Oh man, how much do I hate riddles? Jacen, have I ever told you that I really, _really_ hate riddles?"

"I believe you just did," Jacen said with a grin.

Talesa reached out to touch the surface of the metal. It felt … strange. It was neither warm, nor cool, which she thought odd as most things were either one or the other. She frowned quizzically as she allowed her finger to trace ancient words against the metal's surface.

"Talesa, what are you doing?" Jacen hissed.

She drew back her finger and waited as the word she'd written shimmered like water and translated into basic.

_WISDOM_.

"How did you guess it?" Jacen asked.

"Common teachings. Knowledge alone doesn't make someone wise. Power is useless without the wisdom to use that power correctly. As you age, you acquire more and more of it."

The entire wall began to ripple, the ripples starting from the translated word and spreading out to all corners of the metal's surface. Within seconds, the entire wall had disappeared to reveal a continuation in the tunnel that they were in.

"So," Zak started. "What now?"

"We keep going, I assume," Talesa said, venturing forth. "Come on."

As she stepped over the spot where the wall used to be, she felt a tingle cross every nerve inside of her, making her shiver.

"Did you guys feel—" she started, turning around to look at Jacen and Zak.

But they weren't there.

All she saw in the way of the path she had come from was a solid iron plate, seamless against the rock walls around it.

"Zak!" Talesa called out. "Jacen!"

They stepped through the wall instantly as if it wasn't even there, both of them with their eyebrows raised in comical expressions.

"No need to shout. We're both here," Jacen said.

"Well you weren't," Talesa pointed out. She pointed over their shoulders and they turned around to see the iron plate. "See?"

Jacen swore. "What the hell is this?"

Zak was calmer about it. "Probably some form of camouflage."

"Then why is it on the inside?"

"Could be faulty," Zak suggested. "I mean; considering that whoever put it there is long since gone, then it's a feasible explanation."

"I don't entirely buy it," Jacen said.

"Zak could be right," Talesa pointed out. "There's a good chance that it's been sitting there for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, if years. To assume that it would still function perfectly is unrealistic."

Jacen looked between the two, trying to identify some sort of hidden conspiracy against him, and then shrugged and pushed past Talesa to lead the way.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Zak was just as puzzled by the strangeness as Jacen and Talesa appeared to be. Continuing down along the tunnel, they had emerged into an open area in the mountain—the very same one they had been in before entering the cave. They looked around for signs that it could have been a different one, but unless all three of them suffered from faulty memory …

From there, they had made their way back to the cliff face and scaled back down it to the ground. Jacen had been chagrined to learn that his comlink—which was the only one the trio had brought with them—had probably fallen from his belt when he had lost his grip coming up the mountain. He was forced to follow the other two back down to the ground the same way they managed it.

Complaints were plentiful.

It only took them a few short minutes to jog from there to the Praxeum grounds … only to see that it wasn't there.

"What in the name of Alderaan is going on?" Jacen demanded for the dozenth time as they searched the clearing for any sign of life.

They had all come to the conclusion by now that there was no one else to be found, but they continued to look to give them something to do until they actually found something.

"I have no idea, Jacen," Zak replied half-heartedly. "Could you, perhaps, ask less?"

He felt his friend shoot him a dark look, but he nonetheless remained quiet from then on.

What struck them all first and foremost about the disappearance of the Praxeum and all of their peers was that there appeared to be no signs it had ever been there. There was nothing to suggest the facility had exploded or had been bombarded from orbit—not that they wouldn't have heard that happening anyway, even from within the cave. And it didn't look like they'd just uprooted all the structures and moved them to a new location.

Furthermore, they wouldn't have done that without a good reason, and it wouldn't have been a spur-of-the-moment decision, especially with the three of them away. Additionally, there would have been no possible way to move all of those buildings in such a short amount of time.

So they continued to search.

Several more hours passed, with the trio fanning out into the lightly forested area surrounding where the Praxeum should have been, before any of them found something.

"Over here!" Talesa called out.

Zak dashed over to where she was looking and relief flooded through him.

Unfortunately, it sagged just as quickly as it had inflated. Talesa hadn't found evidence of _recent_ life after all.

A ruined Lambda-class shuttle craft was cradled by the tree tops above her head. Vines and mould were snaking and creeping their way over and into the small ship. He doubted if anything worked. On the floor at her feet was the empty armour of a pair of Imperial stormtroopers.

"No … way," Zak breathed.

But when he took a moment to think about it, he knew that there was no way. The armour was just as muck- and mould-covered as the shuttle, and the level of mould meant that they had been there for years, possibly decades.

"No signs of any bodies," Talesa said quietly as Jacen burst through the underbrush to Zak's right. "But with a crash like this; I doubt anyone survived it."

"I certainly don't feel anyone's presence," Jacen added. "Human or otherwise … aside from ourselves."

"What do we do now, then?" Zak asked.

He could think of nothing to explain how or why the Praxeum had disappeared. Nor could he think of a reason there would be an Imperial shuttle on Cab'uL Tuar when there had been no trace of such a vessel found by the engineering teams assigned to build the new Praxeum. Zak knew, also, that the _Corellian Glory_'s sensors had not even picked it up.

Once again, the tiny little planetoid had presented another mystery.

Then Zak remembered his brief time on D'vouran so many years ago and yelped.

"What?" Talesa and Jacen said at the same time. They whirled around to look at him, both reaching for their lightsabers in the same moment.

"Oh," Zak said, breathing hard. "It's nothing. Just … bad memories." If either of them understood, they said nothing.

"I have an idea," Talesa said after a few minutes of silence. "Though, it might be considered a very long shot at best."

"At this point, darlin', I'll consider anything," Zak replied.

Talesa frowned at the pet name, but went on nonetheless. "Do you think, if it was possible to get aboard that shuttle, that you could access the communications equipment and send out a distress call? Perhaps we can find out if the _Glory_, or any other Republic vessel, is in the area."

"Perhaps someone that can explain just what happened to all the Jedi that were here," Jacen put in.

"I could … provided that there's some power left in the ship's reserves." Zak looked up at the abandoned wreck and frowned. "Just looking at it, I doubt that there is any left."

"We have three lightsabers with us," Talesa replied as if it was obvious. "Ours have one power cell, yours has two. That gives us access to four cells we can use."

"Then let's get to work, shall we?" Zak said with a grin.

* * *

Zak wasn't able to get the communications equipment on board the shuttle working until the next day. Occasionally, either Jacen or Talesa would wander about the forest, looking for some evidence that would explain where everyone had gone.

Of course, they found nothing.

When Zak did get the comm. system working, he set it immediately to broadcast an automated distress signal out into space. It was weak, but he was hopeful that it would attract some kind of attention, and that help wouldn't be too far away.

He only hoped that it wasn't the wrong kind of help and attention.

So for the next three days they waited, and they waited. By day, they scavenged the local flora for berries and edible ferns, or the occasional forest rodent to eat. Luckily, there was a fresh spring nearby. It was one of the reasons the Praxeum had been built where it had. By night, Zak would light a pile of leaves and twigs and other flammables from the shuttle's stores with a discharge from his lightsaber and they huddled closely together to keep warm as they slept.

But on the fourth day, their hopes were answered.

The three of them woke to the sound of a landing ship. After gathering their things, they proceeded carefully and cautiously to the clearing where the Praxeum had once stood.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Jacen watched from the thickest part of the tree's canopy he could find as the shuttle finished its landing cycle. It looked like the _Silent Hunter_, and so he had almost made the mistake of rushing straight out into the open to greet it.

But when Zak pointed out that all the outward markings they had painted onto it were missing, replaced by newer ones none of them recognised, Jacen's danger instinct kicked in and the three of them found individual hiding places amongst the tree line so they could see just who it was.

Friend?

Or foe?

Cooling vents fanned open and slowly, the boarding ramp lowered until it touched down on the bare dirt beneath the ship.

Seconds later, a pair of soldiers descended the ramp and took up flanking positions on either side of it on the ground. They were clad in black armour plates over their shoulders, chests, arms and legs, and their helmets covered only the top half of their faces, obscuring their eyes from view, but by no means blinding _them_.

Each of them had that same unfamiliar standard branded in white on their chest plates.

The soldiers scanned the perimeters, force pikes held in their outside hands, and then, satisfied that they saw no threats, returned to an attentive stance and locked their eyes straight ahead of them.

A person followed the troopers and continued past them into the clearing.

It was clearly a woman, and she was shrouded in a dark cloak, clasping a single lightsaber in her left hand, which seemed to be connected to a long, durable metal strand that was presently looped around her fingers. Jacen couldn't see the detail of its design from where he was, but he got an impression of the woman, and determined that she was most definitely a darksider.

She reached up and flipped the hood back, revealing the face beneath, not that there was much to reveal.

Most of the woman's head was wrapped up in a triangular-shaped headdress, save for the area around her eyes. As she shed the robe and let it fall to the ground at her feet, Jacen saw that she was covered in armour plates that were fitted in such a way that they did nothing to hinder her mobility, and possibly her agility.

And he knew exactly who she was, from his uncle's stories of his time in the Rebel Alliance.

Shira Brie.

"I know you're out there, Jedi!" she shouted, looking in the opposite direction to where the trio hid. "I can feel your fear! Face me, that I might give you a quick death!"

Jacen said nothing as the woman turned slowly on the spot, fanning her gaze across the forest until it came to rest on where he hid.

"Face me!" she shouted at him, knowing he was there. Jacen dropped from the tree branch at once and approached her slowly, lightsaber drawn but not activated.

"Commander Solo," the woman he was sure was Shira Brie sneered. "I always hoped I would be the one to deliver your head to my masters. Truly, fate has granted me a prize indeed."

"I don't know who you are," Jacen said, "but you possess a striking resemblance to someone my uncle once told me about."

Zak and Talesa dropped down from their own hiding places behind him and stepped forward until they were both to his right. The woman's eyes went as wide as saucers as she gazed upon Jacen's friends.

"What kind of Jedi trick is this?" she demanded in a dangerous growl. Behind her, the two soldiers took up their pikes in both hands and advanced a few steps.

Standing next to Zak, Talesa waved her hand absently at the troopers and they slammed upwards against the hard metal of the ship's undercarriage. They slumped to the floor, unconscious.

"Who are you?" Brie demanded, pointing at Zak with her strange-looking weapon.

"I'm not sure that's any of your business, if you don't know already," Zak snapped.

"I know who you're _trying_ to be!" the woman hissed. She flexed her fingers and the metal strands dropped to the ground, still connected at one end to what Jacen was now positive was a lightwhip. "Identify your _true_ self right this instant before I decide you're not worthy of my masters' time and kill you here and now!"

Jacen didn't like the threat. He stepped backwards and flicked his lightsaber to life as Talesa flung her hand out at Shira Brie and shoved her far from them with the Force.

The woman recovered quickly and activated her weapon; a pair of long tendrils of crackling red plasma snaked out like extra appendages from the hilt.

The woman wasted no time in pressing the attack on them, swinging wide and cracking the whip so close to Jacen's head that he felt the angry bite of metal against his cheek. He had his lightsaber up in time to block the lightwhip's energy strand and it recoiled away as Shira Brie spun and slapped her weapon's twin strands around at Talesa.

"Jedi filth!" she hissed as her whip batted against Talesa's activated lightsaber. She kicked out at Zak, who caught the foot in his hands and shoved her leg upwards.

The woman flipped backwards away from them and landed in a crouch on her feet. Zak took the momentary reprieve to flick his own lightsaber blades to life, twirling the hilt around his fingers before bringing it to a rest in his palm, behind his back with one blade tip pointed to the ground beside him.

The woman flinched and hesitated, allowing Talesa to step up to her and swing her lightsaber down to the woman's legs. She missed; the woman darted back out of reach, and Jacen approached her from the other side.

He swung high at her legs to take the left one off at the hip, but she spun on the spot, manoeuvring her lightwhip's metal strand into the path of Jacen's to block him. Then she spun again to meet Zak and Talesa, batting their lightsabers away with little or no effort. Her lightwhip danced in a blur of crimson and steel back and forth around her, keeping away the potentially deadly strikes from the two Jedi apprentices and their friend.

Talesa lashed out with her hand, but the Force push that she had intended for their adversary increased in power and rebounded against her, throwing her all the way back to the tree line where she crashed against a thick trunk and slumped to the ground. Her lightsaber deactivated and rolled out of her hand into the underbrush.

"Talesa!" Jacen called out.

He frowned and swung at Brie again and again from her left while Zak came at her with both blades from her right.

The cyborg's lightwhip clashed twice in the quickest succession Jacen had ever seen, and she let her weapon's handle roll around the back of her hand, the energy strand slamming Zak's other blade out of the way before the hilt returned to the woman's hand.

Jacen gestured towards the weeds at the woman's feet, and they began to grow wild and tangled around her ankles to trip her up. She looked down at them, frowned in disgust, and then hacked at them with both strands of her weapon.

As Jacen took advantage of this, she jumped out of the tangle and landed behind him, kicking hard at his back. He toppled forward and thrust his lightsaber out to the side to avoid injury as he fell to the ground.

He heard the telltale clashes of continued battle behind him, and he pushed himself hastily to his feet to see that Zak had jumped in to pick up the slack. He traded blow for blow with the dark cyborg before he made a mistake even Jacen wouldn't have tried.

He spun his lightsaber around his fingers over his head to prepare for his next move, and the woman slashed downward. The energy tendril of her lightwhip passed through Zak's left leg while the metal one wrapped around his calf and bit into the flesh hard.

Shira Brie pulled hard and Zak lost his balance and fell to the ground alongside his severed leg. He screamed, clutching at the stump of his leg as his lightsaber rolled away from him, forgotten.

Jacen brushed his mind against the weapon only briefly to shut it down for his friend. Then he jumped in before the woman could swing her lightwhip to finish Zak off, and he swung at her first. She ducked under the blade, backed away a handful of steps to get the space she needed and slashed both tendrils of her deadly whip at Jacen's head and torso.

Jacen blocked with his lightsaber, and then reached out behind him and felt the cool slap of another lightsaber. He didn't hesitate to switch it on and swing it around at the woman's head while advancing on her. Simultaneously, he swung his own at her legs.

She flipped backwards away from him and swung around with her own weapon to cleave him in half at the mid section. When she missed, she swung out with her foot and caught Jacen's left hand. His lightsaber flew out of his grip and he quickly deactivated it before it landed near either of his friends.

He brought Talesa's lightsaber in his other hand around to bat against the darksider's weapon and went into a brief offensive, pushing her back towards the shuttle.

The cyborg dropped to her knees, planting her free palm against the ground in between them. Before Jacen could get out of the way, an invisible shockwave slammed into him, radiating outward from the woman's hand, and he went flying.

He crashed to the ground several meters away from her and skidded. The last thing he saw before the blackness was a booted foot rushing towards his face.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_**DETENTION BLOCK, DARK ENCLAVE; KORRIBAN**_

When Zak woke, his leg tingled, and he had no idea why at first. Ignoring it, he leant across Talesa and Jacen's immobile forms to check their pulse and their breathing. They were both still alive.

Then he turned around to observe his surroundings. He was in a cell—again!—shared with Jacen and Talesa. A ray shield separated the cell from the corridor beyond, and Ysalamiri separated him from the Force. He couldn't see them, but the fact that he couldn't _feel_ anything was a dead giveaway. It was a painful reminder of the time he'd spent aboard Darth Pravus's station nearly four years ago.

Outside the cell stood a pair of those same black-armoured troopers he'd seen on Cab'uL Tuar before the stranger had departed the ship and attacked them. Their backs were to him and their force pikes were clasped tightly in one hand.

He frowned at them, but said nothing. Instead, he returned to Jacen and Talesa and gently shook them both awake. Jacen took longer to rouse than Talesa did, but when he did finally come around, his first words brought Zak's memory screaming back to him.

"Your leg!" he said, gasping.

Zak's eyes shot open and he looked down at his leg to see that the left leg of his pants had been torn off and that his leg was perfectly intact. There wasn't even a scar to say that it had been severed by—

"Who _was_ that woman?" he asked the other two.

"I don't know who she was," Talesa said thoughtfully, "but that weapon of hers was certainly unique. It appears that we're in an Imperial detention area, so I would assume that Alitha has something planned for us."

"Excuse me?" another voice said from inside the cell. Zak turned his head slowly to face the chillingly familiar voice, hoping that his ears were only playing tricks on him. "_What_ do I have planned? I don't even know who you two are!"

Nope, his ears weren't playing tricks on him at all. In the corner of the cell, curled up on an uncomfortable bunk with her knees hugged tight to her chest was Alitha Palpatine. He fought the instinct to jump across the cell then and there and wrap his fingers around her neck to squeeze the life from her for all that she'd done not only to him, but to Allina as well.

Something in the back of his mind told him that he really couldn't, and not because he was a Jedi.

Alitha looked just as dishevelled and helpless as he and the others felt right now. Her robes were singed and torn in various places. Her left hand was missing entirely, the stump of her wrist exposed past the end of her sleeve, long since healed. Both of her eyes were freshly bruised, and her bottom lip was swollen and cut. Her long blue-black hair was grubby and frizzled, as if she'd been denied use of the refresher for a long time. The smell of tears and sweat and unwashed clothes emanated from her strongly, giving evidence to that assumption.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Jacen said stiffly, caught off-guard. He'd never met Alitha before, but due to Zak's and Allina's descriptions of her, identifying her hadn't been too hard.

He slowly turned his gaze back to Zak. "Why didn't I se—why _can't_ I sense anything?"

"Ysalamiri," Zak pointed out, lightly massaging where his leg had been severed.

Jacen frowned. "I hate those things," he hissed.

"Who are _you_," Alitha said from her corner of the cell, drawing their attention back. She pointed to Jacen first, and then to Zak and Talesa.

"Jacen," Jacen said automatically. He nodded over to Talesa, "That's Talesa, and I believe you already know Zak."

"I believe you're"—Alitha pointed to Zak; he was really getting sick of the pointing—"_supposed_ to be Zak Arranda, but I don't believe that's who you really are. Now who are you, and why did they send you here?"

"I think I know who I am, thank you very much," Zak said, annoyed. "Just what right do you think you have to tell me otherwise?"

"Pfah!" the woman snorted. "You sound just like him."

"Who?"

"Zak," Alitha said matter-of-factly, "who else?"

Zak found himself rapidly becoming confused by the woman's behaviour. _He_ knew that he was himself. How could Alitha sanely say that he was not? She should have known who he was. She'd been after him for years—had even _created_ a person to try to get to him.

When her eyes met his, she visibly shuddered, and tried to hide it by dropping her shoulders. "My name is Alitha Palpatine. I'm one of the last surviving illegitimate children of the late Emperor."

"We know this already," Jacen said. "You've attacked us before. What I don't get is how in all of creation you ended up here? Did your own officers rebel against you and lock you up? A little taste of your own medicine, for all the good it would do you."

The woman's expression grew cold and defiant and she glowered at them. "And just why is that? I've had no dealing with you before," she insisted. "Or any of the Skywalkers, for that matter."

"So you don't remember clubbing me across the face two years ago?" Talesa challenged.

"My dear, before today I've never even seen you."

Talesa's lips pressed together into a tight line of thought at those words. Zak didn't exactly buy it. For all he knew, with Alitha's propensity toward genetic experiments, she could have cloned herself and had her put in such a condition to play with their minds. It wouldn't be entirely beyond her capabilities.

"So you're saying you didn't take control of the Second Imperium and attack Luke Skywalker's Yavin Four facility two years ago to capture me?" Zak questioned. "Or that you were at Navii Lya Prime last year trying to acquire illegal supplies to start a civil war within the Republic?"

Alitha leaned forward, letting go of her legs and letting them fall until her feet slapped against the floor. She hissed as a surge of muscle cramping pain shot up into her brain, and then shook her head as she thought about a response.

"That didn't happen," she said thoughtfully. She thought about her next words for a few moments before she spoke them. "I've been in this cell for the better part of the last five years."

"That isn't likely," Zak said, trying his best to reign in his frustration. Again, the woman cringed at his voice. He was sure he wasn't speaking too loudly. At least, not louder than Jacen.

Alitha, it seemed, had no such restraint on her temper. "I think I know myself better than the three of you do," she snapped testily.

"Yes, and for all we know, this could just be another of your tricks to entrap me. You could be the real Alitha under some sort of disguise, or you could be a clone of the real Alitha that she's abused to the state you're in now just to mess with my head. I don't know, and quite frankly I don't care. Just drop the charade."

Alitha went silent then and there.

"Less chatter!" one of the troopers beyond the confines of the cell snapped.

* * *

Hours later, Zak frowned as a thought occurred to him, and he kicked himself for not having considered it before now.

He was familiar with the quantum physics and theories behind it, and had studied it to some small degree to pass time away when he had nothing else to do.

But it was all supposed to be merely theoretical, and not practical. To actually have stumbled across it in practice was … astounding, to say the least.

If he was right.

"I don't think we're where we think we are," he said quietly to Talesa and Jacen.

"What do you mean?" Jacen asked.

Zak was unconcerned with others listening in. The guards had moved to the main detention block entrance an hour ago, and Alitha had fallen into a soundless sleep in her corner, still curled up, rather than laying down.

"I mean …" Zak paused, frowned in thought, and then continued. "Have either of you heard of the 'Multiverse Theorum'?"

"In passing," Talesa said. "But I don't know anything about it. What does it deal with?"

"It's a theory in quantum physics that dictates that everything that _can_ happen, _will_ happen." Zak tapped his chin. "For instance; deciding to go exploring with you. We could have said no. The theory states that at that point, a separate universe divided from that decision like a fork in a road in which every option happened. Another example, again using our exploration, would be Jacen not losing his grip on the rock face. Or Jacen not coming at all. Or Jaina coming instead."

"OK," Jacen said, "we get it."

"What makes you think that we've ended up in one of these … erm … alternate universes?" Talesa asked curiously.

"Think about it," Zak said earnestly. "We walked through what we thought was a doorway blocking off the tunnel and ended up in the exact same clearing we'd been in before _entering_ the tunnel. Did either of you notice any familiar markings on the wall to tell us we'd doubled back any?" When neither of them volunteered a response, Zak took it as an affirmation that they'd seen his point. "When we got back to the academy grounds, there was nothing there. In fact, there was no sign that there'd _ever_ been anything there. No signs of destruction, or construction, or any kind of human or near-human life. It would have taken weeks or months to uproot everything and move it, and we hadn't even been gone a day. Besides, they wouldn't have done that without letting one of us know about it, and they knew where we were going."

"And then there's the _Silent Hunter_," Jacen pointed out, as if it had only just occurred to him. "I could swear that ship Shira Brie landed in was the _Silent Hunter_, and yet it didn't have the New Republic or Jedi Order logos stamped on it. Jaina and Lowbacca painted them on."

"_That_ was Shira Brie?" Talesa cut in, staring at Jacen wide-eyed in shock and disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Who's Shira Brie?" Zak asked.

"These days, I prefer to be called Lumiya," a familiar voice said from behind them. Zak whirled around and saw the woman from Cab'uL Tuar standing outside the cell, flanked by a pair of soldiers in black armour.

She looked exactly the same as she had on the planet when Zak had first seen her, except that the wrappings around her shoulders and head were now blood red instead of lavender, and a black cape was attached to her shoulders and flowed out behind her. The metal strands of her lightwhip were coiled around the hilt, and the hilt itself was hanging from her hip so obviously that Zak knew it was deliberately in sight.

"You're supposed to be dead," Jacen said blandly. Zak was unwittingly reminded of when Jaina had said something very similar to Darth Pravus.

"You know me," the woman called Shira Brie—or Lumiya, as she preferred—said. "Can't keep the old girl down."

She scanned all of their faces, frowning when her gaze drifted over the sleeping Alitha in the corner. Then, she nodded to Zak. "Stand."

He did as was instructed and waited for the ray shield to be deactivated. Just as he was beginning to entertain the thought of charging out at the woman and trying to catch her off guard, he noticed that the trappings around her lower face shifted slightly, as though, underneath, a smile was forming.

"Next time, I won't be so kind as to have your leg reattached," she said silkily. The ray shield blinked and disappeared, and Zak stood there, waiting. "Come with me. There's someone that would like to meet you."

Zak stepped out of the cell and waited patiently as the guards slapped a pair of magnetic binders over his wrists. He heard Jacen and Talesa make toward him, but the reactivating of the ray shield stopped them in their tracks.

"Hey!" Jacen exclaimed.

"Not you," Lumiya said. "Just this one."

Zak shot a desperate look over his shoulder at his friends before he was dragged roughly away from them and out of the detention block.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Zak watched the flashes of passing decks shoot by through the semi-transparency of the lift tube as it shot up. Behind him stood the woman known as Lumiya, whom Jacen and Talesa both seemed to know of.

He could touch the Force again, now that he was outside his cell, but he would not dare to challenge her; not after the last such occurrence had cost him his leg temporarily. He had, of course, asked her why she'd even bothered to have it reattached if she viewed him as an enemy. Her only response was an arrogant snort of derision before shoving him roughly into the lift tube and stepping in after him.

When their ascension had started, Zak discovered that the detention zone was in fact underground. He didn't know how far underground, or of which planet, but it was definitely underground. So, with Lumiya behind him refusing to answer his questions, he closed his eyes and began to meditate.

He hadn't been at it for long before sensing that they were approaching their destination and opening his eyes in anticipation. He watched the last few levels flash past before the lift ground to a halt and all became silent for a few moments. The Sith—or Dark Jedi, he didn't yet know—did nothing behind him; merely waited as well.

When the doors hissed open, Lumiya shoved Zak forward roughly with enough force that he stumbled through the lift tube's opening and into the chamber beyond. When he stopped his stumbling, he turned to see that the lift doors had closed, and the lift had departed—carrying the darksider away.

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief; now he wouldn't have to make an idiot of himself by asking questions that would yield no answers.

There were others in the chamber he was in; he could sense them very distinctly. All was silent, however, and he felt the distinctly uncomfortable sensation of many sets of eyes boring into him from up ahead.

And yet, despite—or perhaps, _in_ spite of that—he took the chance to look around and observe his surroundings as best he could.

The Force—most notably the strong taint of the dark side—was thick in the air. It was so thick that it appeared to cloud his own senses, and he found he was unable to sense much beyond the strange presences he'd detected moments ago.

From what little else he could see in the permeating darkness, there seemed to be a set of steps several meters ahead of where he stood. Each step was cast in shadows, like the rest of the room, and the forward edge of each was adorned with a pulsing red glowstrip, strong enough to be noticed by the eye, but weak enough that it did nothing to illuminate the step below it.

Zak frowned at the stab of outrage that coursed through him at that, the thought that the decor had been stolen straight from his own desires and used in there here and now. He knew that that thought could only have come from the remnant of the darkness within him, and it had no place in his conscious mind; not now that he was facing the unknown.

Sudden movement caught his eyes and his hearing. Before he could step aside, something bumped hard against his shoulder as it passed him, and he stumbled sideways.

Movement all around him now, and Zak could clearly make out the silhouettes of passing humans and near-humans. Their presences matched those he had sensed earlier, but not one of them seemed to pay him any mind as they jostled him on their way past to the lift tube behind him.

When they had all passed, and the lift had taken them all away to wherever it was they appeared to be in a hurry to be, Zak straightened and, out of habit, smoothed the creases in his shirt and pants before turning. Now that he felt alone, he decided to take the opportunity to look around some more.

He soon found that he had been brought to what appeared to be a tactical planning centre. There were a few console rings around the chamber, lit only by the apparently random placement of overhead lights shining down. As he crested the staircase that had been to his left when he'd stepped out of the lift, he saw a large, five-sided table raised to waist height and bristling with holographic apparatus and control panels. The table, and the blue shimmering hologram of an unfamiliar landscape, were revealed much like the console rings; a single overhead light shining down upon it.

He blinked. Across the other side of the table was a dark figure. Though the Force told Zak that he was alone now, the physical evidence of this other person was incontrovertible.

The person was wearing thick black robes that billowed out around them, hiding the true shape of their body so that Zak could not even identify their gender. The hood, which was up, cast so much shadow over the other's face that the only thing that was visible was a pair of eyes that glowed like hot embers from a fire.

A wave of emotions slammed into Zak, causing his knees to buckle. He felt anger, hatred, and yet some sort of childlike curiosity and a form of scientific expectation.

He did his best to shrug as much off as he could; forced himself to get back to his feet with a scowl pinned to his features.

"Who are you?" he called out across the distance to the other person. There was no response to his question; as if he really expected one.

Hesitantly, he took a step toward the table, and the person behind it. Though he now knew that he had indeed been brought before someone, his eyes continued to dart back and forth during the approach. He took in every detail that he could see in the darkness, which, admittedly, wasn't much at all. But he felt that it was better to know if he was being cornered or tricked.

Another light flickered to life from above as he drew closer to the table. This new light beamed down upon the person standing on the other side of the table, but did nothing to reveal their face under the hood and dispel the darkness obscuring it. The light also revealed a second figure, standing beside the first. They were wearing a tight-fitting suit of blood red with a long black cape pinned to the shoulders with platinum clips.

The second person was definitely a woman, judged solely by her shapely and yet somehow familiar figure. However, her face was also thrown into darkness by the hood of the cape that was up. Fiery eyes blazed from beneath the hood, glaring out at him.

Zak stopped at the edge of the table and waited.

_You have impressive strength in the Force, young one,_ an ethereal, genderless voice whispered in Zak's mind. He frowned. _Almost as much as myself._

A malicious, definitively male, chuckle rent the air. _Almost,_ the voice repeated.

Zak took that laugh as a sign that the first person he'd seen at the table was in fact a man, and that that man was the person to whom Lumiya answered.

But the laugh was so frighteningly familiar that Zak stopped, horror-struck. A strange thought occurred to him in that instant; was the woman standing alongside the dark-shrouded man his consort? Was she his Sith apprentice? Or was she his personal bodyguard?

All three, perhaps.

"Who are you?" he asked hesitantly.

_Oh, come now. I think you know._ There was a prideful edge to the psychic tone; mocking Zak, daring him to take a wild guess.

"Face me, Sith!" Zak hissed, putting his hands on the edge of the war table and leaning forward a little so that the other two could see his face better in the light.

Dread began to creep into his thoughts. He tried to fight it away, but he knew instantly his efforts were useless at this junction.

_You _dare_ to make demands of me, boy?_ the voice shouted in his mind. _I, who would rule this galaxy?_

"But then," Zak's own voice added, though his lips did not move, "who else would have the nerve to challenge me? Who else could possibly know me so well to be assured that I wouldn't just kill him on the spot for such defiance?"

Zak was horrified as an armoured forearm became visible from under the robe and reached up for the hood. The man pulled it down from his head, allowing his face to be seen under the light from above.

The man's face was decorated in odd and random places by unknown, but ancient looking tattoos inked in black. A ugly scar in the shape of a narrow cross cut straight across a set of symbols on the left side of his face, and one of the strokes continued up and across his eye to his forehead.

But despite these obvious differences, the face was, more or less, a mirror of Zak's own.

"No!" he breathed, staggering backwards a couple of steps as the psychic shock kicked him in the guts. "That's impossible!"

"But is it?" Zak felt the gentle caress of a probe on his mind, but it was too brief for him to bother defending against. "Ask yourself, Zak; would this not be where you would stand now, had you continued down the path of darkness on which you started; soon to be the most powerful individual in the galaxy? Power at your fingertips with the woman you love most at your side?"

With an absent wave of his hand, the Sith-mirror of Zak used the Force to draw back the hood of his companion. Revealed by the light shining down on them both was the cold glare and stony features of Jaina Solo.

And at her belt, Zak spotted, was his lightsaber. It was displayed fully, opposite her own, as if she regarded it a treasure she would show as a conquest over him. He quickly returned his gaze to his other self, standing under the light with his fingers pressed against the tabletop—metal fingers attached to metal hands and arms.

"How is this possible?" Zak demanded of them.

"That, for this particular moment, is of no importance," his other self replied with an absent wave. "For now, the only interest I seek is how you and your friends have come to be here. I know that you are all from an alternate universe; one in which, it seems, I turned out … differently." The last word was little more than a disgusted hiss. "There is no other way you can all be who you are."

Zak didn't reply. He remained standing as still as a stone, his arms crossed now and his eyes darting to the Sith-Jaina only when she shifted her stance to regard him. The Sith doppelganger—or was _he_ the doppelganger in this universe?—started back at him, eyes aflame. Zak sensed that he was full of a strange sort of curiosity.

In one way, he supposed that it could potentially save his life, as well as give him the bargaining chip he needed to keep Jacen and Talesa alive, if only temporarily. On the other hand, this twisted version of himself probably satisfied his curiosity with death, dissection, and study. Or worse—live dissections.

His lips drew into a thin line as he weighed his chances of bargaining with the Sith that stood opposite him. He had to admit to himself that the likelihood was small that he would find a common ground to base any kind of deal on.

The facsimile, seemingly reading his thoughts as they occurred, simply grinned wickedly at him.

"You are correct," Zak finally said. He quickly set about sealing off parts of memory he didn't want his other self discovering. He hoped that the Sith would not be able to make it by his defences. "But as for how we came to be here—I cannot divulge information that I do not possess."

A lie. He already had his suspicions on how they had ended up in this twisted place. But he hadn't had the opportunity to confer those suspicions with those he had come with, without being under the watchful eye of surveillance, so the likelihood of him being right was slim at best.

If his other self sensed the deception in his words, he made no comment or expression to say he had. He continued to stare across the table at Zak, as if daring him to make some kind of aggressive move towards him.

He didn't, naturally; not now that he knew who he faced.

"Your leg appears to have healed fairly well," Jaina said, speaking for the first time throughout the entire encounter thus far. Her voice held none of the hostility or apparent disgust that her eyes showed.

The other Zak frowned at her comment, and Jaina returned it with one of her own without saying another word.

"Thanks to a quick-thinking medical unit and a half-dozen or more bacta injections, I would guess," Zak replied. He put all of his weight on the previously severed leg to affirm its prime condition.

All three of them were silent for a moment, and Zak felt his other self reach out with the Force to someone outside what he'd already deduced to be some sort of war planning room.

"We have much to discuss, you and me," Sith-Zak said finally.

"I come before you against my own choice," Zak said coldly. Perhaps it was a little too cold, for the other smiled as if he had just won first place in a game or contest. "Rest assured that I desire no more discussions with you. I would prefer to remain in the detention block with the others."

"You are under the mistaken impression that you were given a choice in the matter," Jaina hissed dangerously.

The other Zak nodded in agreement. "The lady is right. You really do _not_ have a choice in the matter. But you are an honoured guest, until I decide otherwise"—this elicited a warning glare from Jaina—"and never shall it be said I was an ungracious host. Fresh clothes and meals will be delivered to you and your … friends as soon as possible."

Zak recognised this immediately as a ploy to curry his favour. True; they were all filthy from having slept in the forests of Cab'uL Tuar for consecutive days without access to wash or laundry facilities, but he knew that the others would agree with him in that they would all much prefer it over the bribery being offered.

There was a hiss from somewhere behind and below, and Zak felt the return of the woman known as Lumiya.

The lift had returned, with his escort.

"Leave," Sith-Zak said.

Footsteps approached evenly, climbing the steps and then crossing the metal plated deck to Zak. He felt a cold, hard hand clamp down on his shoulder and squeeze firmly before he was wheeled around and shoved toward the stairs to the lower floor.

While he still had the chance, Zak shot a look over his shoulder and saw that the Sith duo were watching him through narrowed eyes.

And Zak knew that it would take a miracle for him and his friends to escape from them and return home. He just knew it.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

_**COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE, JEDI PRAXEUM; CAB'UL TUAR**_

Keyan was in a foul mood, and that was saying a lot because he had always been able to keep a tight rein on his negative emotions.

It had been a few days since his apprentice, Talesa, had requested that she and two others be allowed to explore a cave she had previously discovered in the nearby mountainside. Those other two had been Jacen Solo and Zak Arranda, so Keyan hadn't been overly concerned for their safety.

But they hadn't returned. That was what worried him. Talesa had assured him that the expedition wouldn't last the entire day, and yet the trio had been gone for four—nearly five.

Yet, despite his worry, he had others to attend to. Everyone had noticed the disappearance of the trio, most notably Jaina Solo and Tash Arranda, who were to the point of hysterics. Keyan could understand why. This would be the third time in four years that Zak had gone missing without an immediate explanation or forewarning.

He had granted them immediate permission to investigate, so long as they stayed within comm. range of the Praxeum.

He, meanwhile, had gone down to the communications office on the fourth level of the main building. He planned to get in touch with the commanding officer of the Republic Ship, _Corellian Glory_.

"So, did they head up there?" He looked upon the blue-and-white hologram of Captain Daniel Tenaha.

The hologram's head shook and then frowned. "_I can't imagine that they would without my knowledge, or yours,_" Tenaha replied curtly. "_I would have thought that any plans to visit the _Glory_ would have gone through you first; especially since one of those three is technically still a student at the Praxeum._"

"I know," Keyan said. "I'm just trying to cover all the possibilities." He paused and stroked his chin as he thought of something. "The girls are down in the hangar now, checking for any missing ships. I'll have them retrace Talesa's steps when they get back and are fed and rested."

"_You think it's possible that something happened to them in the caves?_" the captain suggested. He nodded to someone to his left and a sheet of flimsiplast was handed to him. He looked down at it, and Keyan waited patiently for the report, as he sensed it had some relevance.

Tenaha frowned, but said nothing as he continued to read. "Problem, Daniel?"

"_As Luke probably made you aware, we've been keeping a constant sensor lock on the surface of the planet as a security measure._" Keyan nodded, knowing this. "_Sensors picked up something … unusual. It seems to coincide with the disappearance of our young friends._"

"And you're only just getting the report now? Four days late?"

"_It's been signed off which means I've seen it before. It must have slipped my mind is all._"

"What were the readings?" Keyan asked.

"_Nothing anyone on duty had ever seen before. A high radiation burst coming from inside a mountain not too far from the Praxeum._" He paused for a moment, and then continued. "_Not any form of radiation deadly to them, especially not with their level of exposure. It only lasted for a second before it disappeared._"

"Inside the mountain?" Keyan said. "That's where Talesa said they would be going."

"_Like I said;_" Tenaha replied quickly, handing the pad to someone outside of the holocomm recorder's field of vision, "_at that level of exposure, and that particular type of radiation, they wouldn't have been affected._"

"But other things might have." Keyan paused and keyed in a command on the console to his left. A hologram of the mountain appeared above it, and the hologram of Captain Tenaha glanced sideways as if he, too, could see it.

"_I suppose; it's possible that some of the rock formations _may_ have been affected,_" he said slowly. Keyan brought up the section of the mountain his apprentice had indicated to him. "_Especially if any of the surrounding formations were a result of volcanic activity._"

"Doubtful," Keyan countered. "This spot was picked for the Praxeum's construction because it was far from any volcanic or otherwise geologically unstable areas."

"_I wasn't referring to _recent_ volcanic activity, Master Jedi. Even molten rock formations from volcanic activity thousands of years ago may prove susceptible to certain forms of radiation._"

Keyan nodded and frowned as the sensor station beside him bleeped. He closed down the hologram of the mountain and brought up another, present-time, one of the planet. Another ship was approaching; a small corvette with a slimmer-than-usual nose section and a hull bristling in missile batteries.

"The _Rutledge _was away?" he asked the captain.

"_Temporarily,_" Tenaha said as if it was obvious. "_Captain Antilles just wanted to check out an odd sensor reading at the edge of the _Glory_'s sensor range. Pretty sure it's nothing, but I thought to have it checked out anyway._"

"That's fine," Keyan said. "Contact me when he reports in to you. You have my comm. frequency. I will be with young Miss Arranda."

* * *

"All the ships are accounted for, Master Jace," Tash Arranda said primly when she and Jaina Solo came before him minutes later to report. Keyan had suspected as much, but to have it confirmed just made the disappearance all the more puzzling. "And the launch schedule has none of them registered as having left and returned."

"I really—" Jaina started.

Jace cut her off. "I think you should check out the caves," he said simply. This floored the girls, and they gave him looks full of the incredulity they both felt at his words.

"Forgive my surprise," Jaina started, "but I was under the impression you _didn't_ want us following them?"

"I just wanted to check out every other possibility before then," Keyan said evenly. He could tell the girls were fighting the urge to just turn on the spot and bolt out the door. Perhaps this would be a lesson in patience for them. "I didn't want to send you in there if it wasn't necessary. Talesa informed me prior to their departure that it's not easily accessible by repulsor skiff."

"How did they get up there then?" Tash asked curiously.

Keyan smiled, and Jaina frowned as if she understood. "They climbed," she said, disapproval dripping from both words. She shook her head. "I've seen the topographic surveys of those mountains. She's insane!"

"Well, that's Talesa for you," the older Jedi replied.

"When can we go?" Jaina asked.

"Tomorrow morning at first light, if you wish. But not this evening. The two of you have been out exhausting every other recourse all day so I want you both fed and rested for a fresh start tomorrow." Then, seeing the look on Tash's face, continued. "That is final, Miss Arranda," he said sternly. "Consider the kind of people all three of them are. Together, they will be fine."

Tash mumbled something he didn't quite catch, and he smiled in spite of it before turning to Jaina again. "Another thing I want you to consider: I was speaking with the captain of the _Corellian Glory_ earlier, and it appears that during the day of Talesa's hiking expedition, there was a burst of radiation from somewhere in the caves they were exploring. Captain Tenaha assures me that it won't be dangerous to you, but I want the correct protocols observed just in case."

"Certainly, Master Jace," Tash said enthusiastically.

He nodded and the girls bowed respectfully back before turning and racing out of the room, jabbering excitedly about their plans for the next day.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_**ROYAL DINING HALL, DARK ENCLAVE; KORRIBAN**_

Later that evening, Zak was herded into a massive chamber of stone alongside Jacen and Talesa. Alitha was dragged alongside them by Lumiya. No one spoke a word the entire time that the cyborg and seven others strong in the dark side of the Force escorted them.

The only thing that had been said was when Lumiya had arrived with her group at the detention block and told them that they were all under orders to dine with the Sith Overlords—confirming Zak's earlier suspicions that the twisted versions of himself and Jaina were indeed Sith.

Standing in what must have been a dining hall; Zak couldn't help but appreciate the grandness of it, and to take in the splendour.

It wasn't decorated as if it were the private dining chamber of a pair of Sith at all; though, admittedly, Zak had no experience in how a Sith might decorate. He hadn't even seen Darth Pravus's living quarters.

Each wall was decorated in finely woven tapestries of various historical and mythological significances. A long table almost split the room in two. It was two meters wide, twenty long and made of tough wood Zak knew from his home world. The tablecloth was pale blue shimmersilk, and atop it sat silver platters of different delicacies and steaming meals, some of which Zak had never laid eyes on the like before.

Ten chairs, spaced evenly apart, lined each length of the table. They were high backed and comfortably padded. But the single chair at the head of the table and the identical one at the foot of it were the most ornate; carved from wroshyr wood from Kashyyyk and inlaid with gold filigree in astoundingly beautiful patterns.

A giant flag hung from the walls behind those two chairs, blood red in colour with a golden border and, in black in the centre, that same symbol that was stamped into the black-armoured troopers' armour and on the _Silent Hunter_'s alternate.

The symbol was of a circle, ringed in the same blood red as the rest of the flag, and then surrounded by four sets of reaching spikes reaching for each of the flag's four corners. If Zak was to draw conclusions, he would have said that the flag represented the corruption of the Sith spreading from wherever it was they were now and spearing as many other worlds as possible before moving on to the next.

_If_ he was to draw conclusions.

Sith-Zak and Sith-Jaina were already in the hall, waiting for them. Neither of them rose upon the arrival of their guests, and instead fixed the three of them with hostile glares. Zak's double's face soon faded into a not-quite-genuine smile, and he gestured for the trio to sit.

They approached the table. Zak and the other two sat together as close to the centre as they could to put as much distance as possible between them and both of the Sith.

Sith-Zak gestured absently into the air and a hidden door popped open from the wall Zak was facing, admitting a quartet of culinary droids into the room with hands clutching carefully to transparent glass bottles. They proceeded to pour drinks into the glasses in front of those seated at the table.

Zak ignored them and, instead, took the moment spare to check on what had been their escort. He noted that while Lumiya and one of the other darksiders remained in the dining hall with them, stationed by the door in silence, the others had either elected or been ordered to remain outside. It evened the odds somewhat.

Movement to his left reminded him that it wasn't just he, Jacen and Talesa that had been brought to dinner. Alitha was looking back at him, and then to the Sith mirror of him, as if trying to tell if one of them was a clever imposter.

"I'm so glad that the four of you could join us this evening," Sith-Zak started after taking a small sip from his drink. Assuming Zak's sense of smell wasn't failing him, it was Corellian brandy he drank; his own drink was the same.

"It's not like you gave us much of a choice," Jacen mumbled on Zak's other side.

"I wasn't aware that prisoners had the right to defy my demands," Sith-Zak snarled dangerously. "And you would do good to remember that, Solo, if you plan on keeping your head."

"Try it," Jacen said smartly.

Jaina hissed at him and when Jacen shot her a look, Zak felt the stab of pity he felt towards this version of his sister.

Sith-Zak frowned, and Zak could see the desire fighting with his emotional control beneath the surface. He sensed from Sith-Jaina that she would rather have leapt across the table and wrapped her sharp-nailed fingers around Jacen's throat to squeeze until he stopped breathing or she felt it snap. It was so different from the Jaina he knew that it clashed with the fact that, her eyes aside, she was physically identical in every other way.

"Careful," he whispered to Jacen, who nodded in return.

Sith-Zak's face was thoughtful as he looked to Talesa sitting on Jacen's other side, and he frowned a little once more, confused or bemused, Zak couldn't guess.

"You're identical to the Talesa Valara from this universe," he said, cheering a little. Then he darkened the comment with, "She's dead now."

"I assume that you, too, were genetically enhanced as a child?" Sith-Jaina asked almost as soon as the other Sith had finished.

Enhanced?

Zak looked to Talesa just in time to see her hair darken a few shades and her eyes changing from blue to more of a jade colour. He'd never noticed those things in her before. Could that have been what the Sith woman had meant by _genetically enhanced_?

Seemingly reading this from his mind, Talesa turned to look at him and smiled almost sadly. "My parents had me altered when I was still an infant. I can consciously change the shade, not the colour, of my hair, and my eye colour interchanges between blue and green at random intervals as a result to the enhancements done to them. I can see into infrared and UV spectrums."

"Assuming you're exactly the same as the Talesa Valara from our world, that's not all. Go on." Sith-Zak's fingers were steeped on the table in front of him, and he was half-smiling, definitely amused.

Talesa sighed, rolled her eyes, and continued. "My lung capacity was increased by forty-two-point-three percent, a control trigger was put into place in my central nervous system, and my internal organs and muscle structure were strengthened by thirteen percent to better withstand disease and injury."

"When you say there's a control trigger in your nervous system …" Zak had to ask.

"She can turn off her pain," Jacen pointed out, as if he already knew. It stood to reason that he would. He and Jaina had known Talesa for years.

"So when Allina was torturing you?"

"Didn't feel a thing," Talesa said with a smile.

Zak chuckled, and wondered whether he should break the news to Allina about that little fact. It might help to boost her self esteem a little if she knew that she hadn't really hurt Talesa at all when she'd been using the Force to electrocute her two years ago.

He turned to look at his other self. He had a lot of questions to ask, but he didn't particularly want to give the Sith the satisfaction of knowing just how curious he was about them; especially not when his friends were here to scold him for such curiosity. But he couldn't help from wondering how he and Jaina had come down this path in this universe. He couldn't stop himself from thinking of the possible changes to the timeline that had led them both to this point in their lives—both powerful Sith commanding an unknown number of darksiders as well an army.

Was the galaxy completely different to his own home? Had the Empire never fallen here, and Zak and Jaina had overthrown Palpatine to take over and reform it? Or had the Empire never risen at the end of the Clone War at all, only to rise much later in a different way with new and seemingly more brutal-natured leaders.

"So, what's the deal?" Jacen asked, surprising Zak with how candid he sounded. "Are the two of you married? Equals? Because everyone knows that Sith spit at the thought of equality."

Sith-Zak nodded by way of a response while Sith-Jaina occupied herself with the meal that was still steaming on the silver plate in front of her.

"Both are true statements," Sith-Zak said evenly.

Zak barely heard him speak. He was transfixed, temporarily, by Sith-Jaina's eating. She was so much like the Jaina he knew that it made his heart hurt being apart from her.

His double seemed to notice his distraction and cleared his throat noisily to grab his attention. When Zak looked back to the Sith, he saw an angry glare pinned into place for his benefit. He fixed a neutral expression to his own face, but it was a difficult task while under such a hateful glare.

He got the feeling that he now understood what Tash and the others had said about facing him when he had gone over to the dark side. If his expressions had even been close to what he saw now on his Sith double, it would be enough to make even the most fearless Jedi go pale.

He swallowed heavily, but refused to look away from the Sith. Down the length of the table, he sensed that Sith-Jaina's attention, along with Jacen's, Talesa's and Alitha's—who was in his sight, as a point of fact—were all snared by the silent standoff between Jedi and Sith.

"Do try to remember that you're _not_ in your world anymore," Sith-Zak snarled. "She may look like your Jaina, but she is _not_ your Jaina." He broke eye contact to spear a chunk of grazer flesh with a fork and shovel it hungrily into his mouth.

All of them sat in silence for several minutes, with only the two Sith and Alitha eating the meals that had been prepared for them. Zak and the others ignored their meals, allowing them to grow cold and tasteless. Out of those three, only Zak drank from his provided glass; mostly though because he actually liked Corellian brandy, and because he knew that, like the food, it hadn't been poisoned or laced with anything.

"I gather, where you come from, things are … different?" Sith-Jaina spoke unexpectedly around a mouthful of food. She drew the attention of Zak and Jacen, while Talesa just stared down at the table, deep in thought.

"A little bit," Zak offered, but did not elaborate.

Silence followed the statement. Then; "Care to explain?" Sith-Zak said coldly.

"Well, for starters, I'm not a Sith," Zak said smartly. "And neither is Jaina."

"Smart comments like that will _not_ earn my favour," Sith-Zak snarled threateningly. "Of course you're not Sith. If you were Sith, we would not be having this conversation."

"If I was Sith, I would have killed you with the thinking that you were an imposter," Zak added, equally as stiffly. His darker side was threatening to rear its head in the presence of the two Sith present, outraged by their existence when it was forced down.

Another uncomfortable silence followed, and Zak again examined the Sith for some sign of himself, some sign that he wasn't entirely the sinister man he seemed. However, no matter how hard he looked, it seemed as if there was nothing behind those fiery eyes except darkness and hatred.

He shifted uncomfortably and sipped again from his brandy as he watched the two Sith continue to attack their meals.

"What else?" Sith-Jaina asked between mouthfuls of something leafy.

Zak watched her for a minute, trying to ascertain what she meant by her statement. Then, he remembered what the topic had been before he had decided to be cheeky. "I don't know enough about your history to make any sort of comparisons," he said evenly.

"Perhaps this is something we should rectify," Sith-Zak said thoughtfully.

Again, silence permeated the air. This time, it was Jacen who broke it. "So …" he started. "I'm guessing I'm on the opposite side of this picture?"

"By that, you mean what, exactly?" Jaina demanded.

"Well; when we first got here, that woman—Lumiya—called me Commander Solo. Am I to assume that I'm not quite in the good graces of your royal majesties?"

The question went unanswered. Zak peered cautiously into the minds of the two Sith and saw a deep-seeded hatred towards not just Jacen, but everyone from the Skywalker and Solo families. He took that as a confirmation that not only was Jacen right, but that he had hit a nerve in both of them by opening the topic for discussion.

Score one for us, he thought to himself.

"What about them?" Talesa asked, inclining her head towards the door where the two darksiders—Sith or not—waited. "Aren't you worried that they will try to overpower you and take the Empire for themselves?" Talesa looked to the Sith-Zak this time. "Obtaining the ultimate power is, after all, the goal of all Sith."

The man fixed her with a look that one would usually reserve for a child who had voiced an outrageous suggestion. Zak knew the answer right away.

"Talesa …" he started. She looked at him. "Master Skywalker has often commented that I have the potential to become the most powerful Force-user ever to exist. I suspect that … _he_ is the same."

"No one would dare challenge me," the Sith added on top of that. "And no one stupid enough to try continues to live. Additionally, you pin the title of Sith to those who do not deserve it. The Rule of Two remains intact. Those you refer to as Sith are nothing but acolytes, sworn to do our bidding without question, without doubt, and with unwavering loyalty."

"We are finished here," Sith-Jaina said from the other end of the table. Zak looked at her to see her drop her napkin onto her now-empty plate and then drain the rest of her drink. "We have other business to attend to," she added, pointedly looking to her partner as if to remind him of something.

"Yes," he replied. "We do." The older Sith dropped his own napkin on his almost-finished meal, but ignored the remainder of his brandy as he nodded over at the darksiders by the door. "You'll forgive this interruption, but the lady is right. We _do_ have important issues to deal with. These two will take you back to your cell. Try not to be _too_ disrupting on your way. I would hate to see one of you injured."

Zak didn't believe him, not entirely. But the tingle in his leg reminded him of his encounter with the lady Lumiya back on Cab'uL Tuar and he shuddered visibly at the thought of a repeat; especially without his lightsaber. He shook the thought from his mind and remained seated as his other self, and then Jaina, pushed themselves to their feet. Only then did he follow, and Jacen and Talesa stood up beside him as well, waiting.

"As I said last time, Zak, we have much to discuss," the Sith said.

Lumiya and her companion came over to them, locked magnetic cuffs on their wrists, and then shepherded the trio toward the entrance to the dining hall. Quickly, Zak jerked against the lead and turned to face the two Sith, who were watching them intently.

"Just who the kriffing hell are you?"

"You may address me as Darth Nemuritor," his Sith mirror replied with a smile. Then he gestured to the Sith-Jaina. "And she is Darth Devess. _We_ are your masters now."

A cold metal hand clamped down on Zak's shoulder and squeezed before wheeling him around and shoving him carelessly through the open door and into the corridor. As the door shut behind them, Jacen sidled up to his side and whispered, "I have a very bad feeling about this."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

_Air!_

_ It was damp, and smelt of mould and volcanic rock, but it was still air! I breathed in great big heavy gulps and fell forward, my muscles unable to hold me for very long._

_ How long had I been in the stasis tube? Surely it couldn't have been too long. Deevee would have come looking for us when we'd gone missing. He would have told someone that we'd been held against our will by that traitorous Sullustan that had so kindly put us up after Alitha had murdered Uncle Hoole. Maybe that's who had finally released me. If so, I swore that droid was going to be rewarded with the best greasing and scrubbing that I could give._

_ But when I finally had the strength to lift my head and look around, I didn't see Deevee anywhere. Nor did I see the men and-or women of the local security forces. In fact, there were only two people there, and one of them was just a little girl._

_ I didn't recognise them at all; I'd never met them before. But clearly, they were the ones that had rescued me. Whatever it was they wanted they would most certainly get it._

_ Muscles aching from that simple act of looking around, I dropped fully to the floor._

_ "Help him up, Jaina," said a deep voice from somewhere above me._

_ So I waited. I didn't feel any hands grasping at my clothes, or arms wrapping around me to help me to my feet. But, somehow, I was being lifted. I knew that much; there was no mistaking the feeling of suddenly rising to my feet, though I myself was putting no effort into the task. In fact, I would have been quite content to remain on the floor for a few more years, just sucking in air._

_ The stasis pod had been airtight, and I'd been rapidly running out of oxygen before the Sullustan had activated the device and unconsciousness had been induced in me as part of the freezing process. So to be out of the pod altogether now, I felt grateful to be breathing to the point that I didn't care how polluted or damp and uncomfortable the air was._

_ When I was standing upright, I looked to the strangers again to see that the girl's eyes were narrowed slightly and that her small hand was outstretched toward me._

_ I tried to speak, to ask them what was happening, but found that my throat was dry, and that my lips were slightly cracked._

_ "Water, Jaina," the deep voice said again. I couldn't see the man's face; it was hidden in shadow from the cloak and hood he wore. "But not too much."_

_ "Yes, Father," the girl said._

_ She withdrew a small flask from her belt with her free hand and approached me slowly, as if she wanted me to be sure she wasn't a threat. I wanted to laugh at the thought that she could be, but then I remembered that she was likely the one that had lifted me, though I had no idea how._

_ She stopped just before me, the top of her head barely past my waist, and I felt myself dropping slowly until I was on my knees once more, looking her right in the eyes._

_ She smiled at me. "Open up," she said. It took me a few tries to open my mouth, but when I finally managed it, I was rewarded with the heavenly sensation of cold water dripping into my mouth and sliding down my throat. But there wasn't much of it before the girl—Jaina—took the flask away, replaced the lid, and hung it from her belt again._

_ Swallowing the last few drops of it, I found that my muscles were starting to gather strength, and that my throat, mouth, and lips were no longer dry._

_ "Who are you?" I asked finally, unable to think of anything else to say._

_ The man reached up and removed the hood that obscured his features and smiled warmly. He had close-cropped dark hair and high cheek bones. His eyes were dark, not quite menacing behind the smile. His teeth were straight and even and clean, so I knew automatically that he didn't live on Sullust; the humans here seemed to forego basic hygiene._

_ Then he spoke in that deep voice again. "My name is Brakiss," he said, taking a couple of steps forward. "I have come for you."_

_ "How long …" I couldn't quite articulate the question. And I found that there was something nagging at the back of my mind; some small voice that kept telling me that I was forgetting something, that there was something more important presently to find out rather than the identity of my saviour._

_ "According to the records on the stasis controls, you have been locked in the pod for the past eleven years."_

_ "Eleven years?" I exclaimed. "Then Deevee didn't find you? He didn't find us?"_

_ I felt something then. It was almost like something invisible brushing gently against the inside of my head. "No," Brakiss replied, almost sympathetically. "And I cannot say I know what became of the droid in the time that you were in here. What is the last thing you remember?"_

_ I thought about this. There was Uncle Hoole's murder, and my witnessing it. I reminded myself that if I ever caught up to Alitha, I'd make her pay dearly for what she'd done. Then there was being questioned for hours without end by the local security forces. They'd known I hadn't done it, but they hadn't counted on me being too shocked to be able to cooperate and give them a description of the culprit. Then I'd been handed over to—_

_ "Tash!" I whirled around to face the other pod, breaking free of whatever invisible force held me in place, and crashed to my knees again._

_ The other pod, the one I'd seen Tash shoved into by our traitorous host before he'd activated them both, was destroyed. The plexiglass had shattered and the durasteel frame was bent out of shape in a couple of places. Wires and power chips were visible, fried and broken, from a dozen different places._

_ And inside the pod I could see the motionless form of my dead sister, her long blonde hair limp over her shoulders. Her normally sparkling blue eyes stared out at me, cold and lifeless._

_ "NO!" I gasped in disbelief. The realisation hit me hard and my stomach twisted itself into a hundred knots. Hot tears stung my eyes, and I found myself trying to get back to my feet so that I could get closer to her._

_ A strong arm looped under my own and around my back; the older man helped me to my feet and, seemingly knowing what it was that I was after, guided me closer to the broken stasis pod._

_ He let me down gently and I crawled the rest of the way to the pod and reached through the shattered plexiglass for my sister. I pulled her out of the thing and into my lap, cradling her and hoping that she would spring to life that instant just because I wanted it to happen._

_ But I knew she wouldn't. I'd lost the last of my family now. First Alderaan, and then my second cousin on Coruscant, and then Uncle Hoole had all died while I lived on. And now Tash was gone too, her life snuffed out by an unknown factor._

_ Anger welled up inside me and I turned my gaze on Brakiss, glaring at him to get across how angry I was. Suddenly, he was lifted off his feet and sent flying across the cavern. He crashed into the rock wall on the other side, and I heard the sound of breaking bones before I turned back to Tash and brushed a lock of her beautiful golden hair out of her face. I gently closed her eyes and then looked back up at Brakiss._

_ "Why?" I demanded._

_ "I did not kill her," Brakiss said, pushing himself back to his feet and hissing at the spike of pain I somehow felt shooting up his broken arm._

_ "Liar!" I hissed._

_ "He didn't!" Jaina said stubbornly from only a meter away. I glared at her too, but found myself unable to feel any hostility toward her. Unable to explain why as the hatred melted away, I turned back to Brakiss._

_ "Who killed her? Who and why?"_

_ In response to my question, Brakiss lifted his good arm and gestured to his side. He flicked his wrist toward me and I watched as an equally lifeless body in the tunic of a spaceport labourer was flung from the darkened corner into the light around myself and the pods._

_ The dead man was perhaps in his late forties, with dark hair and a thin ring of bristles around his mouth. From his belt hung a communicator, a blaster, a grapple cable and a small pouch—not usually the necessary equipment for a labourer. There was a scorched hole in the middle of the man's chest._

_ "Who is it?" I demanded._

_ "I have no clue," Brakiss said with a dismissive wave. "All we know is that he was a Jedi Knight. Evidently, his intention was to either kill you both, or kill her and acquire you. I cannot give a reason for either intent."_

_ "Jedi?" I said incredulously._

_ Tash and I had met a couple of Jedi during the great Civil War. The first had been Luke Skywalker. He'd been amazed at Tash's grasp of that mystical thing called the Force. The second had been an old hermit on the swamp world of Dagobah. A funny little creature called Yoda, he had told Tash and I that we_both_had a strong connection to the Force. The Force, according to Yoda, was what bound the universe together. I'd only just begun exploring my own potential with Alitha when Uncle Hoole had been murdered and Tash and I betrayed._

_ "You know Skywalker?" Brakiss said curiously._

_ "A long time ago," I said, looking back down at my sister and gently caressing her cheek. It wasn't even cold yet! "We met on D'vouran. I used to look to him as the kind of person who would bring peace to the galaxy. And I knew that him being a Jedi he would do a lot of good for the galaxy. Tash admired him. But if his kind could do something like this to someone so …"_

_ "Beautiful," Jaina offered when I choked on the word._

_ "Yes." I continued to caress her cheek in silence while the other two looked on. "If they could do this to her, then Luke obviously wasn't as good a person as I thought he was. He and his Jedi need to be taught a lesson."_

_ "My thoughts exactly," Brakiss said. He paused as I gently lay Tash down and forced my muscles to obey me so that I could stand. I swiped away the tears stinging my eyes and cooling my cheeks before I looked up at Brakiss again._

_ "What are you?" I asked him, seeing the lightsaber that hung from his belt. I remembered that Luke had wielded one of those as well, and I'd always considered it the tool of the Jedi. "Are you a Jedi too?"_

_ Then again, Darth Vader also had had a lightsaber, and he most certainly had_not_been Jedi. "No," Brakiss said in a tone that was almost a snarl. Perhaps my comment had stung him. "I am Dark Jedi. Jaina is my apprentice and, for all intents and purposes, my daughter."_

_ "For all intents and purposes?"_

_ "I'm an orphan," Jaina explained, coming to my side and looking up at me. "Father found me abandoned on Coruscant during the Imperial Remnant's campaign against the New Republic six years ago."_

_ "I have raised her ever since," Brakiss added, "and, seeing her potential, have begun to train her in the ways and true nature of the Force."_

_ I looked over my shoulder at Tash, ignored the sting of sadness and grabbed at the anger. Then I looked over to the similarly dead Jedi and growled deep in my throat. "I want to know."_

_ "What do you want to know," Brakiss said almost sweetly, baiting me. Somehow I just knew that he was fully aware of what I wanted. He just wanted to hear me say it; he wanted me to acknowledge it._

_ "I want to know all you know about the Force. I can touch the Force. And a Jedi Master once told me that I had a strong connection. I want to explore it. I want to_exploit_it. I want to know everything there is to know, and I want to acquire all the power I can."_

_ "And what would you do with that power?" Brakiss asked._

_ "I will find the Jedi responsible for my sister's death—the ones that ordered it. And I will make them pay. I'll make them wish they'd never considered it. I'll show them the true meaning of pain, and the true extent of its reach. I'll show them that mercy is for the weak!"_

_ Something grabbed at my hand, and I looked down to see Jaina looking straight back up at me, smiling broadly with tears of happiness brimming. She clutched tightly to my hand with both of hers._

_ "She seems quite fond of you," Brakiss said. I looked back up at him as I gently pulled my hand free of hers and laid it gently on her shoulder, drawing her closer to me._

_ "We're both orphans," I said bitterly, and gently squeezed her shoulder to convey that I was grateful she at least knew how I felt. "Will you show me the ways of the Force._

_ "If that's what you truly want," Brakiss said._

_ I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to gauge if he was testing me again. If he was, I wanted him to know that it was not at all appreciated. He had no idea how much pain I was in. He could not know that I was hurting so badly that a part of me liked the idea of throwing myself into one of the nearby volcanos to end the pain. He could not know that another part of me was having trouble seeing what the point to living was now that I had no family left._

_ But perhaps that wasn't entirely true._

_ Jaina was also an orphan and Brakiss had taken her in and raised her as his own child. I knew I was too old now for him to actually raise me, but if he took me in as a student of the Force, would that not make us, in some ways, a family? Maybe not of blood but of kinship, and perhaps a common belief._

_ The Jedi were evil. Brakiss seemed to believe so, and if he did then it stood to reason that Jaina would too. After seeing the evidence for myself of what the Jedi could do, and obviously had no compunction about it, I couldn't honestly think back to those days at first meeting Skywalker and then Yoda and not feel intense surges of hatred._

_ "It's what I want," I said testily._

_ Brakiss's hand shot out and something made of metal was flung through the air at my chest so fast it was nothing more than a blur. On instinct, my free hand shot out ahead of it and grasped it before it crashed into me._

_ I looked down to see what it was, and gasped in shock._

_ It was cylindrical with blue grip strips encircling the fore-half of it. The pommel was braced with blue and thinned as it went along. Close to the pommel was a round clip, a pair of lights—one green and one red—and a red button with a grey dial in front of it._

_ I pressed down on the red button and a turquoise blade of energy shot out of the end of it for a little over a meter in length. The glow of the lightsaber lit up the area around me, and I could see the control panel for the stasis pods not too far away, near where Brakiss had been standing before he'd been flung across the room and broken his arm._

_ Which reminded me …_

_ "That is yours," Brakiss said before I could ask. He still cradled his broken arm, but it seemed less stiff now, as if it had healed some. "Until you build your own. Take good care of it; I won't be giving you another."_

_ I nodded. Now was my chance. "What happened to you? Earlier, I mean, when you broke your arm."_

"_That was your doing," Brakiss said brazenly, perhaps even proudly._

_ "How?"_

_ "You tapped into your feelings of grief and hatred and used them as a weapon. They intensified to the point where your connection to the Force was beyond conscious thought. You reacted without intending to and inflicted harm on someone you perceived to have done you wrong."_

_ "I … I'm sorry."_

_ "Do not apologise. The arm will heal. That was your first step toward the dark side. You will control it in time. Follow me …"_

* * *

Darth Nemuritor woke from his sleep, his eyes shooting wide to take in the pale glow of the Korriban sun creeping through the window underneath the thick curtains. His first instinct was to check his lover, who laid motionless on the bed they shared, breathing shallowly, her eyes closed tight. She was still asleep.

Sometimes his nightmares had the tendency of creeping into her dreams and waking her too. It did him no good to be reminded of the person he'd once been, before discovering true power, and he liked it less when Devess discussed it with him.

Though she had only been a little girl when they'd first met, her memory was infallible, and both of them remembered keenly the undeniable bond they'd felt between them at the time. At first, they'd attributed it to kinship, as they'd both been orphaned. But as they grew older, constantly in each other's company, it had blossomed into more.

Their singular hatred of the Jedi kept their bond strong. It was a hatred that would burn forever in both of them, igniting their passions, fuelling the power of the dark side that they both wielded so strongly against their enemies.

Even though Nemuritor had long since learned that it _had_ in fact been Brakiss that had murdered his sister …


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

_**DETENTION BLOCK, DARK ENCLAVE; KORRIBAN**_

The black-clad troopers were hardly gentle when they shoved Zak into the cell and reactivated the ray shield behind him. Jacen glared at the troopers as they turned and moved out of sight before looking to Zak to check how he had been treated.

"Did they abuse you with words then?" he asked loftily when Zak sat down next to him with a grim smile.

"Yeah, you could look at it that way," Zak said. He leaned back against the wall and Jacen looked him over again for any signs of damage. All he saw was weariness.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Lectures," Zak said. "I think. Jaina was just showing me a holographic representation of an event which I think might have been the defining moment of this universe."

"What?" Talesa got up from her back on the floor and looked at them. Alitha Palpatine was fast asleep on the bunk-bench in the corner of the cell. Her dark hair obscured her face from view, and her chest rose and fell in a steady, shallow rhythm that was unmistakably one of someone who was in a deep sleep.

"OK, so as her majesty narrated before starting the light show: a Dark Jedi by the name of Brakiss—who I think we're already familiar with from our own universe—kidnapped Jacen and Jaina Solo mere months after their birth. The Republic spent months tracking them down and came across reliable intelligence that Brakiss was stationed at Thyferra. So they sent a fleet to recover the Solo twins and destroy or detain Brakiss. The hologram I was shown was of that battle.

"Apparently they had a partial success—Jacen Solo was recovered and returned to his parents. But they weren't able to find any sign that Jaina had been there at all. So they held the planet long enough to get a slicer team in to see if they could ascertain hers and Brakiss's whereabouts from the base computers—that was the battle. But before the slicer team even left Coruscant, a specially outfitted Imperial ship broke through the Republic blockade on a suicide run and crashed into the planet-side base, destroying everything."

"And they never found Jaina?" Jacen asked, frowning. "With all the resources of the Republic, they _never_ found her?"

"Evidently not," Zak replied with a defeated sigh. "Judging by the fact that she's now a Sith. But there's been no sign of Brakiss, or any hint of his existence. I can only assume that she killed him at some point."

"Could be," Talesa mumbled.

"So; now can I sleep?" Zak asked.

Jacen chuckled. He, however, was not ready to let his friend off so easily. Not when he had had the time in his absence to think of a plan.

"Not just yet," he said.

He pushed himself up from the bench opposite the one Alitha slept on and walked quietly to the ray shield. Peering out, he checked to see that the guards were far enough away before he turned and went back to his spot next to Zak and fixed him with a knowing grin.

"What are you planning?" Zak asked him cautiously.

"We have a way out of here," Jacen said cheerfully. "We think."

"It has holes." Talesa was back on her back now, staring up at the ceiling blankly, as if trying to force herself to meditate without the aid of the Force. "But it has a chance of success."

"And where would you go?" Zak asked. "Back to Cab'uL Tuar? The Sith would follow you there, and since we have no idea how we got here in the first place, you would be executed or arrested—again—before you could figure it out."

"Assuming that the New Republic is still a majority government in this universe," Talesa started, raising her head to look at Zak, "Then one would also assume that the safest place for us right now would be Coruscant or one of the other Core Worlds. It would only be a temporary solution, and we could work with some reputable scientists on a way to get us back to our own universe."

"I suppose," Zak said with a shrug.

Jacen eyed him warily. Instinct was nagging at the back of his mind, telling him that Zak was planning something else, something that he and Talesa were likely to dislike.

"What is it?" he asked his friend.

"What makes you think something's up?" Zak asked.

"Because you asked 'where would you go?' and not 'where would_ we_ go?' That only implies that you're not intending to come with us, and _that_ is entirely out of the question, I'm sorry. Something is bothering you."

"Not so much bothering," Zak said after a moment. Talesa had propped herself up on her elbows to look at him with this revelation, and her expression didn't convey approval.

"Then what?" Jacen pressed.

Again, Zak hesitated in answering. Jacen cursed the Sith for having cut them off from the Force, as it made it impossible for him to just read his friend's plans from his mind.

"I sensed … conflict," Zak said ruefully. "In Jaina's thoughts, specifically. I don't know what to make of _his _thoughts. If he's as strong in the Force as I am, he can block me from his mind just as easily as I can block him from mine. But I sensed definite conflict in Jaina."

"Conflict of what nature?" Talesa asked curiously.

"Of the same nature Master Skywalker described having felt in Darth Vader." Jacen didn't understand at first, and then it hit him.

"How do you figure? All I sensed in her was the burning devotion she has to him," Jacen said with a frown.

"And her obvious hatred for her own family, and the Jedi," Talesa put in.

"She's only become so dark because her only role model for who-knows-how-long was a Dark Jedi—specifically one with a grudge against the Skywalker clan. She may have killed him when she found out that he had in fact taken her from her true family. Perhaps the only reason she became a Sith was because of how she feels about Nemuritor. Maybe, if he's as strong as I think, he twisted her mind around to become what she is now."

"What does that have to do with you staying here?" Talesa demanded.

"If there's any good left in her, and anyone can bring it out, it would be me," Zak said. Jacen opened his mouth to protest, but his friend held up a hand to silence him. "You saw how she treated you at dinner last night, Jacen," he said. "She _hates_ who you are in this world. It stands to reason that any attempt made by you to remind her of who her true family is and what kind of person you wish she would become would be met with violence and quite possibly your death."

"So? If I can put the seeds of doubt into her mind, what's the big deal?"

"Would you care to tell me how I explain to _our_ Jaina how and why you died?"

Jacen bit his lip, searching for something that Jaina would accept. He found nothing. Zak was right. If Jaina had been told that Jacen had died trying to bring out the good in a Jaina from an alternate reality, she would just argue that it wasn't relevant to them as she wasn't from their world. She wasn't a priority.

"That's what I thought," Zak said smugly.

"And what makes you think you can do it and avoid death?" Talesa challenged.

"Nemuritor is fascinated by me and thinks I'm worth studying. I'm not a fool. I know there's an ulterior motive to his curiosity. But for the time being, it's keeping us all alive, and it's keeping me in his good graces. I think I'll continue to capitalise on that for as long as I can."

"And then die?" Talesa put in.

"Have faith, my dear, that it is not my destiny to die just yet," Zak said with a grin. A minute passed in silence before Zak spoke up. "So … what is this plan you've concocted."

Snapped back to the original topic, Jacen found his excitement jump several levels. Talesa had stated that the plan had a minimal chance of success. But, surely, a minimal chance was still much favourable to a nil chance. She had agreed to that logic and they'd agreed to present it to Zak for further scrutiny before deciding when to try and enact it.

But even Jacen couldn't pull off a miracle. The deciding factor of their escape would be whether their detention guards would be those dark-clad troopers or Lumiya and her fellow acolytes.

The acolytes would be harder to deceive into letting them out of the cell for _any_ length of time. And since the cell contained a privacy cubicle, they didn't need to be let out to use those facilities. The only times any of them had been let out thus far were to eat with the Sith at their invitation, or when Zak had been taken out to see Jaina earlier today.

During their briefness outside the cell—at the previous night's dinner with the Sith—Jacen had reached out with the Force. He'd mapped out a rough path from the cell blocks to the nearest service entrance to the building. He figured that with the Force to guide them, they wouldn't have any trouble finding their way to a hangar deck or landing pad to commandeer a ship.

He relayed this all to Zak, skimping on none of the details, lest there be a flaw that Zak could see—after all, Zak had spent more time with either of the Sith than he or Talesa had. Being so similar to one of the Sith gave him insight as to his thinking and his expectations. He would know if Darth Nemuritor would expect and counter any of Jacen's plans.

But he admitted that there was already a slight hindrance to the plan: Alitha Palpatine. She wasn't conscious very much throughout the day, and when she was she barely moved. Her bruises and other injuries looked fresh every day, and Jacen doubted that she could move with any sort of speed in such a condition. But they all agreed that if they were to attempt an escape, she would not be left behind. Despite the kind of person she'd proven to be in their universe, in this one, she'd proven to be an underdog, and as such she was worthy of their mercy.

"It'll be slow-going," Jacen said, "but I think we can pull it off."

"You'll need Alitha anyway, if you're to find your way out of here quickly," Zak pointed out with a nod. "Jaina told me that she managed to escape once. Didn't last long on the outside before they nabbed her again, but at least she knows a way out."

"There you go with the 'you' comments again," Talesa said irritably. "You're under the mistaken impression that Jacen and I are just going to go and leave you behind here with …" She faltered, unsure how to word it. "We're not going to just leave you behind with _them_."

She didn't need to elaborate on who she was referring to. Jacen shook his head at her. "Zak won't leave us much choice. It would only slow us down more trying to convince him or trying to drag him along with us."

"Then we simply don't attempt this at all," Talesa said. She was being stubborn, and Jacen knew it.

"Why are you so resistant?" Zak asked.

"Because you have an annoying habit of putting yourself at risk for the rest of us," Talesa shot back. "It's foolhardy. You aren't even a Jedi Padawan yet and you're acting like a seasoned Master; trying to convince everyone else to escape while you act as the diversionary tactic."

"Why is that a problem if it saves lives?"

"Because _Jacen and I_ are more seasoned than you are. If anyone should be risking their life, it should be me … or Jacen. But since you both have family to be thinking about, then logically, it definitely should be me."

"Talesa," Jacen started. "Zak has a point in why it should be him; a point which we have already covered." He didn't want to admit it, but, yes, Zak really _was_ the best candidate to stay behind.

If he was right … if there was some good in this universe's twisted version of Jacen's sister … then Zak would be pretty much the only person in any 'verse that could bring it out in her.

Jacen had sensed how much this world's Jaina loved her Zak. If that love had been there for any length longer than the Zak and Jaina he knew, then there was no way anyone other than Zak would be able to use that against her, or to save her.

He so wished that it could be him that could do it. He so wanted to save her, even though she wasn't the sister he knew. It would be the one small favour he could do to this universe's Jacen Solo for fighting on the right side … for resisting the Sith's oppression, regardless of the odds against his succeeding.

But it wasn't to be. The corruption inside Jaina had led her to hatred—hatred that was directed at whatever remained of her family. If he tried, she would kill him. He accepted that. If Talesa tried … Jaina would probably kill her too. After all, hadn't Nemuritor stated that he'd killed the Talesa Valara of this world? If that was true, then he knew that this world's Zak and Jaina had never been friends of this world's Talesa, and that even Jaina would not hesitate in cutting her down again.

But Zak?

No.

With Zak, she would hesitate. And that hesitation would give him the time and the edge he needed to undermine the Sith hold on her. And on top of that, Nemuritor would not kill him for trying. Hurt him, possibly. Torture him, definitely. But even Jacen had sensed the curiosity in the Sith about confronting a Jedi variant of himself. He would keep Zak alive long enough to study him

And with that conclusion, Jacen nodded to Zak to let him know that he would come back for him when he could. Talesa, out of the corner of his gaze, nodded too; her expression remained icy.

She didn't approve, but she did accept the necessity.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

_**THRONE ROOM, DARK ENCLAVE; KORRIBAN**_

Darth Nemuritor was contemplative when his beloved entered the throne room some hours after the completion of her task of showing Zak Arranda some of their history.

He was still insanely curious about his new guests. Especially his other self—the do-gooder.

It disgusted him to imagine himself as a Jedi. And yet, there was proof that it was possible. It forced him to consider how his life might have turned out had Brakiss not interfered and murdered his sister. Might he too have gone off to become a Jedi? Might Tash?

While ordinarily, he would consider such notions heresy and have the offender destroyed to cover it up; he couldn't help but be intrigued by this newcomer.

He couldn't explain it either.

By the time Devess had crossed the lower floor from the lift and ascended the steps, he had momentarily convinced himself that he just wanted to study the young whelp to determine the possibilities that could have befallen him.

He didn't say a word to her for several moments after she seated herself in his lap and looped an arm around his neck; instead gazing through the mists and currents of the Force, looking for answers. Devess watched him keenly, knowing that it was best not to disturb him when he appeared to be deep in thought.

"News?" he said at last, breaking himself from his introspectiveness and gazing sidelong at the radiant beauty that had pledged herself so wholly to him.

The instances had become fewer and fewer rapidly over the years where part of him would doubt her true motives for doing so. Most Sith would constantly be on guard at having an equal. Historically, Sith did not care to share power, nor did they do it very well. Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness during the rise of the great Darth Bane had been proof of that. But he and Jaina felt they'd come to some sort of perfect balance. Their love for each other outweighed any potential distrust of motive. It was true love, not feigned-for-the-sake-of-power love.

"I showed the boy the battle of Thyferra, as you wished. He seemed a little confused, but did not express any of his confusion." She frowned, recalling something more. "And he seemed a little … interested in the status of our other prisoner."

"I sensed from him that they are enemies in his world. Why would he care how she has been treated here if that is true?" the Emperor questioned, keeping his expression neutral.

Devess didn't respond at first, and this irked him. The throne rotated until he could see her face, and he saw why she hesitated. The anguish she bore expressed legions she could not articulate herself.

"He reminds you of what I used to be," he said at last. His brow tightened into a frown when she nodded, though she maintained respectful eye contact with him. "It is … difficult for you to be reminded of this?"

"Difficult," she repeated with another nod. "Because he is so stubborn and … _wrong_. He could never be you; yet at the same time, he is you. It is a feat to look beyond the physical similarities to see the arrogance and wrongness of the person he is."

"He also reminds you of what brought you to me in the first place." His frown loosened just a little, but Jaina's face took on one of its own to counter it.

"I was never attracted by the idea of who you were," she muttered. Nemuritor said nothing for a moment, but he couldn't help but let her see the smile her words brought to his lips. "I was attracted by what you would become. Why don't you just kill him and be done with it? I doubt anyone from his home 'verse would miss him terribly."

"His sister would," a voice came from the darkness.

Darth Nemuritor's frown returned in full swing, but he did not turn in his throne to face the oncoming footsteps he could hear approaching them. Devess's face remained unchanged. She knew who it was as much as he did. When the second person came into view, it was to Nemuritor's left, and she stood between his throne and the wide-spanning viewport that showed them the glory of the rebuilt Korriban far below the citadel and the enclave.

But she wasn't really there, wasn't really a person. Her simulated long blonde hair hung in a single braid down her back, and her blue eyes sparkled with something akin to anger at him as he took a moment to observe her arrival. Usually, this particular hologram remained in the shadows, observing the comings and goings of the Sith's visitors and making snide remarks when there were none. But nonetheless, she preferred to remain hidden.

The program written for the hologram had been done so to take time into account, and so she aged as each year went by, as a normal person would. Currently, she was at the prime of a human's life—mid-twenties. But she wouldn't remain as much. The hologram's personality subroutines had been written by Nemuritor himself to incorporate everything that he could remember about the person it had been modelled after.

It wasn't restricted either to preset knowledge. New encounters taught the hologram new things, and it used those things in its day-to-day snippiness. In particular, she bore a special hatred for Nemuritor and Devess that she made no secret of. No one else in the entire Sith Confederacy knew the hologram even existed.

And worse still; the hologram had taken a liking to Nemuritor's doppelganger from the alternate universe. It offered a small annoyance, at best.

"Assuming she's still alive," Jaina hissed without looking at the construct.

"She is," the hologram replied. "You can see it in his eyes. He's not haunted by that look one would wear if they had lost the only family they had left." The hologram looked to Nemuritor when she spoke those words, but he pointedly ignored her gaze.

Included into the programming were some basic psychological analysis subroutines. The hologram used them when stating her arguments against the Sith. Sometimes, Nemuritor found it mildly annoying that she seemed so focussed on them.

"And what of his Jaina Solo?" she pressed. "How would it be fair that you can have your Zak, but _she_ has to miss out on hers—all because _you_ couldn't bear to look at him?"

"When I want your opinion, _I'll ask for it!_" Devess hissed.

Unfazed, the hologram continued its assault. "Zak created me for a reason. And that reason was to provide a counterpoint to his arguments—and yours, by extension. If you're unhappy about that, take it up with him. Until then, I will continue to speak my mind. I think you could both learn a lot about this other Zak."

"I don't think so. And the lady is right," Nemuritor said dismissively. Being referred to by the name he had long since abandoned made him angry, but he wasted no energy in containing it.

The hologram shimmered and its appearance changed to another he remembered so well. "What is she right about, Master Zak?" Deevee's tinny voice requested.

He waved the hologram off. "She's right in that part of your programming is to obey her and myself. You are not beyond that programming. At present, I'm not interested in your tirade. Shoo for now, before I decide to have you taken offline."

Shooting a disparaging look at Devess, the hologram stormed off for the hiding place it so preferred. Devess followed it with her gaze, a look of victory on her face. It was refreshing to see them bicker. Not that it did much more than entertain him. The hologram had no say, nor did her opinions weigh in on the Sith's decisions regarding the Confederacy's matters. Having her around at this moment was nothing more than a distraction that Nemuritor didn't need.

A sudden burst of insight hit him. Devess, it seemed, noticed it, for she cocked an eyebrow and asked; "What did you see?"

Without answering her, he tapped on a control on the right arm of his throne. "_Yes, Your Highness?_" an older man's voice said through the comm. panel.

"Prepare my shuttle for immediate departure," Nemuritor said.

"_Yes, sir,_" the voice replied quickly.

The comm. panel went silent as the line was severed and Nemuritor looked up to his beloved to see a not-quite-successful attempt to cover confusion. "Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen," he said.

The following laugh from him made the hologram in the darkness cringe in fear.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

_I grew increasingly tired of hearing his hypocrisy day in and out. Already, I'd had to put up with it for nine years. All through those years, I'd trained, and I'd learned in silence, in submission. He taught me all there was to know about the Force. He told me about the beliefs of the Jedi, and the ways in which they restrict themselves. He told me about the ancient Sith Empire, which had failed to topple the Republic and its Jedi protectors, time and time again. And he told me of other Dark Jedi like us and how they'd used their power._

_ But now, at the end of those years, he was starting to look weak in my eyes. Though he didn't know it, I could do things, and see things that he couldn't even dream of. I stunted myself in his eyes so he wouldn't suspect how much of a threat I was to him now. If there was one thing I'd learned, it was that a Dark Jedi put themselves ahead of all other interests. If Brakiss felt threatened by me, he'd no doubt try to kill me._

_ Jaina wouldn't take too kindly to that—especially not now that we were seeing each other, and had been for the past year. And I'd been tempted to do away with Brakiss for a while, but there had never been a way to do it while keeping Jaina's love and loyalty._

_ Now …_

_ Now I had exactly the tool I needed. It would paint Brakiss as the liar he was. It would show Jaina that he had done nothing but use us both for years._

_ So when I knocked at the door to her room, I was caught a little off guard by her flinging the door open and leaping into my arms. She planted a kiss on my lips before I put her back down and asked to come in._

_ She stepped aside to let me in, and then closed the door softly behind her before turning to face me._

_ "I wasn't expecting you for another couple of hours. Where's Father?" she said, eyes shining with all the adoration she felt for me._

_ "On Coruscant," I said. He'd left a couple of hours ago to some emergency or something along those lines. I didn't really care anymore. The more he was away, the more time I had to plot his downfall, and the more time Jaina and I had together in secret. "I'm not here for a social call, Jaina."_

_ "Oh." She was devastated by that, I could tell. Brakiss hadn't left us for the past couple of months for anything, so the only time we'd had together was in training. To the best of our knowledge, he didn't know about our relationship—we wanted it kept that way, to keep him off-balance. "What are you here for then? It can't be an assignment; Father would have given it to me himself."_

_ "It's not an assignment," I assured her. "Would you sit? What we have to talk about is something you're not going to like hearing, but it's something that absolutely _must_ be discussed."_

_ Jaina frowned, confused, and then sat down on the edge of her bed while I continued to stand with my hands in my pockets._

_ "So, what is it?" she asked impatiently._

_ "It's about Brakiss," I started hesitantly. I knew this was a topic that would likely not go down well with her, so I had to be cautious on how I approached it. With my plans already in motion, I couldn't have her ruining it by deciding that it was in their best interests to warn Brakiss of what I was planning._

_ Predictably, she frowned. "What about him?" she demanded._

_ "You know full well my opinion regarding the man by now," I started, avoiding her eyes deliberately, "and you know by now that I have no plans to follow him around for the rest of my life."_

_ "He's taught you so much," she pointed out. "How can you even think of abandoning him after all he's done for you. Don't you know how much he's sacrificed to teach us the things he has? Don't you realise how much he sacrificed of himself just to raise me?"_

_ "And yet has he really done all he can for you?" I challenged openly. I looked her in the eye now, and could practically feel the hatred seeping from her pores like a sweat. Her glare was as cold as ice, and had I been any weaker man I might have paled under it._

_ "How dare you?" she shrieked._

_ "Think about it, my love—"_

_ "Don't you dare call me that after what you've just said! By speaking against him, you speak against all that I have become _because_ of him."_

_ "Shut up and listen to me!" I hissed, taking a step closer to her and scowling. She quailed. Though by no means weak in her own regard, she knew I could hurt her if I so wished … if she provoked me. "He has not done everything for you that he could as a father, and a teacher._

_ "Ask yourself … if he were the kind of father you hold him up to be, why has he never told you of your birth parents?"_

_ "He found me on the street. How can you expect him to know who my parents are? He'd never met them before. They weren't there when he found me. They were nobodies!"_

_ "Or so he would have you believe." I reached into my inner left pocket and withdrew a medical scanner with a vial plugged into the side. Inside the vial were a few spatters of red blood._

_ "What's that?" she asked me._

_ "Your blood. I acquired a sample of it during our last training session. I thought it mildly curious that you don't know or don't seem to care who you came from, where your bloodlines extend. As it turns out, I was right in my assumptions."_

_ "What assumptions?"_

_ "Brakiss knew full well who your parents were. His data files have a record of a genetic trace being run on you not too long after you came into his care. He didn't tell you out of fear, not out of ignorance as he would have you believe."_

_ "What …?" Jaina looked up at me now, the hatred and the anger leeched from her face along with the colour. I could feel a mild trace of curiosity in her thoughts, tinged by the thought that the man who had raised her could possibly have betrayed her._

_ "Do you see now?" I said smugly._

_ I tossed the scanner over to her and watched as she caught it and stared down at it absently, as though she knew it was there but couldn't bring herself to actually see it._

_ "You may not like what you find," I warned her as she thumbed the activation toggle. The scanner's miniature screen flickered to life with a dull green glow that made her eyes shine. She read the information on the scanner's screen, three times to be sure. It seemed to take her an eternity to connect the information together._

_ "Skywalker?" she said in hushed tones. She looked up at me again. "And Solo?"_

_ "You're the child of Han Solo and Leia Organa-Solo, formerly Skywalker. Do you understand now why Brakiss kept that from you? He couldn't exactly have you knowing that your lineage comes from heroes of the New Republic … Brakiss's sworn enemies. And he most certainly couldn't have you knowing that your parents were still alive."_

_ "It says I'm a twin," Jaina said, looking down at the screen again. I bore with her. She probably hadn't heard what I'd said. It would sink in with time._

_ "Your brother was also taken by Brakiss the same time you were. He was recovered by your parents."_

_ "So …" She screwed up her nose. "Does that make me a _Jedi_ now?"_

_ I snorted. "There are other alternatives, my dear. Brakiss is merely one variation."_

_ "One variation? What other alternatives are there?"_

_ I smiled slyly and reached into my outer left pocket. After grasping firmly the object tucked away in there, I drew my hand back out. I held it out toward Jaina, unclenching my fingers to reveal the object that lay in my palm._

_ Jaina gasped when her eyes fell on the red and black pyramid shaped device I held. The device had a soft glow to it, and even without consciously reaching out with the Force, I could feel the strong emanations of the dark side rolling outward from its core like a multidirectional and omnipresent tidal wave._

_ "Oh my stars!" she said in a hushed voice, clearly awed by the device. "Is that what I think it is?"_

_ I nodded. "A Sith holocron."_

_ "Where in all the universe did you get that?" she demanded, her voice continuing in those hushed tones. It was as if she was almost afraid to speak too loudly in the presence of the holocron, afraid she might disturb its guardian and forever damage the secrets that lay inside._

_ "Do you recall when Brakiss sent me to his home world a few months ago to deal with a Jedi Knight that was nosing into his business?" I queried. Though I phrased it like a question, it really wasn't one. There was nothing wrong with Jaina's memory, I knew. I merely wished to point out the "when"._

_ "You found it on Msst?"_

_ Again, I nodded. "Yes. The Jedi in question was searching Brakiss's private estate in search of contraband Jedi or Sith artefacts. He'd found this holocron in Brakiss's personal stores."_

_ "Father had this?" Jaina seemed a little irritated. She had rights to be. Brakiss had never mentioned to either of us that he'd been in possession of such a device._

_ Sure, he'd mentioned them when he'd been teaching the pair of us over the years. That was a given. He'd also mentioned the Sith in some detail, but was careful how much he'd told us. I was sure that that was a survival measure; that he didn't want to take the risk that one or both of us would go off and join the ranks of the Sith only to come back later to kill him._

_ Much as I planned to do anyway._

_ "He did." I kept my expression neutral, so as not to give away my plans to her. She'd been learning from him longer than I had, but she was behind me in power in so many ways. That still didn't mean I could be careless. "And he mentioned it to neither of us. Doesn't that make you wonder why?"_

_ "Maybe he was planning to destroy it?" Jaina suggested. Then she screwed her nose up when she realised the folly of the statement. "No. That's what the Jedi do. They keep it locked in their vaults or destroy it if it's too powerful or dangerous. Father would have wanted to learn its secrets before he disposed of it. Has it been opened?"_

_ "No," I shook my head and drew the holocron back towards my chest, almost embracing the small pyramid. "And if he had learned anything, what do you think the chances are that he would have shared any of it with us? Not very good. He would have kept that knowledge to himself so as to assure his continued supremacy to us both."_

_ "Zak …"_

_ "Jaina!" I hissed. "I know the man raised you and taught you, but you need to stop coming up with excuses for his follies. He lied to you about your parents. He lied to us both about this!" I waved the holocron around to emphasise my point. "How much more are you willing to take from him before you finally see the man for what he truly is?"_

_ She didn't respond at first. That was all the answer I needed. She'd taken quite a bit from him over the years. Surely, the news about her parents had rattled her a little. She might even detest him for it. But I was sure there was a good chance that she would stick by him until the final betrayal—a betrayal worthy of a Sith, though the man would never ever be one himself._

_ "What do you plan to do?"she asked, quiet again._

_ "I don't know yet." I pocketed the holocron again and ran my hand over my eyes. "I need time to plan. He'll be away for a few more days yet, and I may be able to detain him a while longer."_

_ "What about after … after …" She faltered, unable to bring herself to say it._

_ "After I kill him?" I queried. When she nodded, I could barely contain my smile. She knew better than to question whether or not I was capable of it. I patted the pocket again as a precursor to my answer. "I thought maybe I would explore the true nature of the Force. Now that I have this holocron, I can learn things even Brakiss doesn't know, and I can learn the things he does but refuses to share. I will become a true master of the Force—stronger than him, and stronger than any of those pitiful Jedi."_

_ Jaina chewed on her lip. I'd exaggerated a little, of course. It would take a good long while before I truly was the master of the Force. But I wanted to tempt her. I wanted her to know that I really would share everything with her. I wanted her to know that she had a place in the galaxy I planned to shape._

_ "And what of me?" she asked._

_ "Stay with me," I said. It wasn't so much a demand, but it wasn't quite a question either. I truly did want her by my side, whether Brakiss defeated me or I murdered him. I knew it was selfish but if she really loved me as much as she often said, she shouldn't really hesitate at the chance._

_ "But Father?"_

_ I frowned and took a step away from her so that I was out of reach if she decided to try. "For Alderaan's sake, Jaina! If you want to stay with him and be used and abused until he no longer needs you, then you kriffing do that. I offer you the galaxy. I offer you the _universe_! And you have the nerve to turn me down because of a man who wouldn't ever have told you the truth about your parents?"_

_ I glowered darkly at her and turned on my heel to leave. "Stay out of my way!" I warned her as I walked out._


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_Brakiss returned from his excursion a week later. During that week, I'd stayed well clear of Jaina. I could tell this upset her, but I didn't care. If I had any notions of being a Sith I needed to start to adopt their philosophies even now. And one of those philosophies was that pain made you strong if you harnessed it, mastered it, and funnelled it._

_ If Jaina ever hoped to stand beside me and learn the ways of the Sith as well, she would need to learn that lesson. And if she had no such aspirations, she would need to learn just how cruel I could be to those that crossed me._

_ That wasn't to say I did not care for her, even love her. It just meant that, also of the Sith paradigm I was willing to sacrifice what I cherished most to attain the power I felt I deserved._

_ When Brakiss departed his ship, leaving the engines to cool and the hull to tick in the post-shutdown, he seemed remarkably surprised to see me waiting on the landing dock for him. He was wearing red, black and gold, so I assumed that whatever he'd gone to Coruscant for, he'd had to impress someone._

_ By comparison, I was in my darkest maroon top and my black slacks and gloves with a brown belt around the middle. Both of us had our lightsabers clipped to our belts, and I half entertained the notion that he'd even been expecting this confrontation. But the truth of it was that he typically hung his weapon from his belt out of paranoia. He was always convinced the Jedi would find us one day._

_ I decided that as surprised as he was, I would play on that. Since he was always expecting an attack from outside our trio, I had to assume that he might also expect an attack from _inside_. If that was the case, I'd have to lower his guard just a fraction to catch him off guard. It would test my patience—I had very little where Brakiss was concerned._

_ "Zak?" he said guardedly as he approached. His stride slowed a little; better to give him more time to assess me and the surroundings while he approached. I'd give him that small comfort._

_ "Master," I said cordially with a slight incline of the head. He approached a few more steps. "How was your trip?"_

_ "Not at all pleasant," Brakiss said with a glower that wasn't intended for me. "Our contact within the Senate has decided it's not in her best interest to cooperate with us anymore."_

_ "Did you deal with the situation?"_

_ "Do you take me for a fool? Of course I kriffing dealt with the situation. How dare you question my resolve!"_

_ "That's not all I question," I mumbled to myself too low for Brakiss to hear. "Were you able to replace her to recover the situation, or am I going to have to go to Coruscant to do that for you?" I drawled._

_ "Keep your tongue, young man." I ignored the warning and folded my arms across my chest defiantly. "I was able to plant a few ideas that a certain assistant to the late senator should ascend to the role at least in a temporary fashion. Said assistant would continue to serve us as faithfully as the senator should have."_

_ "Good. I detest cleaning up your mess," I challenged. Brakiss stopped a couple of meters from me, still glaring. "Someone that's been around as long as you have might have learned something about etiquette and social networking."_

_ "Where is Jaina?" the man asked, suspicion creeping in. "How peculiar that you, who usually ignore my comings and goings, are here to see my return when Jaina, who usually does care, is absent. What have you done to her?"_

_ My anger almost got the better of me at that point. How _dare_ he insinuate I would ever harm Jaina. After all he had done to her, after all of his lies and his manipulations, what gave him the right to question me?_

_ Then I recalled that Brakiss had no idea that Jaina and I were involved in a relationship beyond fellows. How was he to know that I cared too deeply for her to have harmed her? All he saw was an arrogant, occasionally disobedient and challenging young man who likely wouldn't hesitate in removing obstacles from his path._

_ In that respect, he was actually right._

_ "In her room, studying I think," I said dismissively. I could feel her presence in the Force, and I knew full well she wasn't even close to where I'd said. "And since our contacts on Coruscant are of importance to all three of us, of course you can expect me to be here to see you return. I am interested in hearing about your exploits during your absence."_

_ "My dealings are my own business, and are no concern of yours," Brakiss snarled._

_ "I beg to differ." I didn't move even as Brakiss attempted to shove his way past me. When he realised this he stopped, and adopted a similar pose to myself. "What you do outside of home impacts all three of us. Or need I remind you of the time when you went to Malastare to—and I quote—'teach those filthy Dugs a lesson', and as a result, we had to leave behind the fortress on Naboo because they decided to drop in unannounced and bombard it from orbit."_

_ Brakiss said nothing. He remembered all too well. That had happened seven five years ago, before Jaina and I had begun seeing each other. She'd been only ten, and as yet unaware of the bond that had sprung to life between us._

_ We'd still been in the stronghold when the Dug Syndicate cutter dropped out of hyperspace, bypassed Naboo's regular security protocols, and then proceeded into a low orbit. When they'd started dropping the plasma charges around us, I knew it had been because of Brakiss's stupidity. I'd warned him that the Syndicates were better off under our control, rather than opposed to us. It was one of the many things I hoped to change when I joined the ranks of Sith._

_ During our haste to leave before being incinerated by a bomb, most of our possessions had been left behind. Those _had_ been incinerated. Jaina had almost been left behind too. Racing down a corridor, trying to catch up to Brakiss who was meters ahead of us, she hadn't seen the wall crumble in time and it collapsed on top of her. Her screams still haunted my nightmares._

_ Brakiss hadn't cared. He graced us with a single look before he turned and continued to run for the hangar where his ship was berthed. He left us behind. And when we caught up to him on Tatooine a week later, he told me that it was a test. Jaina was still recovering, still in much pain. And she believed him. She accepted the "truth" of his words; that all he'd intended was to see whether or not we would be able to find our own way off Naboo and back to him._

_ "How _dare_ you question my judgement! You've done so twice now! Do you have so little regard for your life?"_

_ And that was all I needed._

_ I slipped my lightsaber off my belt and flicked the activator switch in the same motion. The crimson of the plasma glowed brightly between us, bouncing off his eyes and illuminating the fiery rage of the older man. I cared nothing for his rage. It would not exceed my own._

_ Brakiss reacted. His lightsaber came off his belt as well and he flicked it on just as quickly. "Be warned, boy; if you challenge me now with that look in your eye, it will mean your death."_

_ "We shall see," I snarled._

_ I swung at him with as much brute force as I could, and his lightsaber sprung up to meet mine. The blades clashed and wailed against each other as they held. Sparks leapt brightly, but not blindingly so. I shoved hard and Brakiss backpedalled as his lightsaber was thrown away from me._

_ He spun with the movement and brought his lightsaber around to my waist from the right. I ducked across to my left to take myself out of the danger zone. Brakiss howled at me like rancor that was displeased at missing its next meal. He charged forward, lightsaber flashing across from left to right, and then back again at a lower angle aimed for my feet. I backed away from the first strike, jumped over the second. Then I took one hand off my lightsaber and flung it out at him, palm open, fingers crooked._

_ Brakiss's lightsaber was wrenched from his hand and flung across the room. The blade embedded itself in the solid durasteel outer hull of his private yacht, the _Emerald Son_, and began to drag down under the force of gravity to slice a wide gash through the metal. Brakiss panicked and flung out at me with both hands._

_ Even though I was prepared for the assault, it was still powerful and I wasn't able to block it. I felt the wave hit me full on and suddenly I was flying through the air. I twisted my body around and reached out with the Force, trying to find some kind of purchase with my feet or hand. I wasn't flexible enough to plant my feet against the oncoming wall and felt my head and shoulder crack loudly against the ferrocrete surface._

_ I groaned with the pain as I fell to the stone hangar deck and was quick to push myself to my feet before Brakiss regained his weapon and was upon me again._

_ Thankfully, when I was recovered, he was still a ways off. His weapon was in hand again now, but the damage to his ship was permanent. His lightsaber had cut a gash starting just below the cockpit's transparisteel viewing portal and coming down around the arc of the ship to the underside before Brakiss had grabbed it back._

_ I flung out with my hand again, and Brakiss's charge was interrupted by a blast of the Force. He stumbled, regained his stride, but was slower in approaching me._

_ I ran at him, my arms pumping and the lightsaber in my right hand swinging wildly at my side with each pump of my arm. Just before we met, I flexed my calf muscles and sprang high into the air above him. He didn't see it coming and slashed his lightsaber violently through the air at where I would have otherwise been._

_ When he realised his mistake, he allowed the swinging of his weapon to pull him into a spin. I landed behind him, spun myself to face him, and then jabbed forward to impale him on the end of my weapon._

_ Brakiss was faster, and his lightsaber swatted mine aside effortlessly._

_ He stopped again, and took a step back. His eyes darted across the hangar, assessing escape routes, combat zones, advantage points. I was sure he didn't find any I wouldn't foresee and counter. But he did see something I hadn't._

_ "Jaina!" he called, pointing at me. I was tempted to slice down and take off his hand—teach him a lesson for leaving it exposed as he had. "Help me kill this fool!"_

_ I swivelled my gaze to see her standing on the uppermost ledge, looking down at us curiously. There was no hatred in her eyes like I would have expected after learning what she had, but there was no anger either as Brakiss would have expected her to feel seeing my challenge. There was, however, a healthy dose of fear._

_ I knew that she feared for us both. Brakiss had done her _some_ kindness is raising her, and she had come to look upon him as a sort of father figure. But I was her lover; I was the one she wanted to share her life with. I figured that, perhaps, she would fear for my life more than that of Brakiss._

_ "Why?" she asked Brakiss calmly._

_ "W–what do you mean 'why'?" Brakiss demanded hotly. "Can you not see he is trying to kill me?"_

_ I distracted him by taking a swing at his hand then. Quickly, he retracted it and advanced a step on me, swinging for my head. I brought my own lightsaber up and around in time to block him._

_ "I have eyes with which to see," Jaina said calmly as she watched us trade blow for violent blow. I ducked under another high swing from Brakiss and jumped sideways into a one-handed cartwheel over another low strike._

_ When I landed on my feet, solidly placed, I turned to him again and grinned._

_ "Then get down here you useless trollop and kill him!" Brakiss shouted at her._

_ Did he really know so little about the girl he raised that he actually thought insulting her like that would get her on his side? All it did was make me angrier. I snarled at him and dashed forward._

_ I switched off the lightsaber before I reached him, and when I was still a meter away and it looked like he was ready to swing for my head again, I dropped forward into a roll. I took the pressure and momentum on my shoulders as I rolled forward and kicked out with both feet in the same instant. I felt them connect against something solid, something human._

_ The roll interrupted, I scrambled back to my feet and watched as Brakiss flew backwards through the air away from me, eyes wide and mouth gaping. He slammed hard into a guardrail on the walkway connecting raised platforms on the level between the ground and the one Jaina was watching from. I flicked my lightsaber back to life when I saw Brakiss cling to the rail with a hand and begin to pull himself up and over it onto the durasteel walkway._

_ Again, I flexed my calf muscles and sprang high into the air._

_ When I landed on the walkway, I was facing him, watching his expression as he tried to dull out the pain he was feeling, the pain from what I had just done to him._

_ He was a fool! He shouldn't have tried to dull out or numb the pain. He should have fed from it. He should have used it to make him stronger, to widen his connection to the dark side. He should have used it to ensure that he killed me. If he didn't, he had no chance! Didn't he see that?_

_ "Stop this!" Brakiss said, staring me straight in the eye. I began my advance, taking one step at a time until I'd crossed half the distance between us and could now better see the fear in his eyes._

_ I recalled from my personal studies that powerful Sith could feed on the fear of those around them, including their opponents. I wished I could do the same. Brakiss's fear might not have been near as I would have felt from a normal person, but it was still enough to have made me a little stronger._

_ One day, I thought to myself; one day!_

_ "Why?" I demanded. "You've proven yourself a liability. You're unworthy of the role of teacher."_

_ "I've taught you everything!"_

_ "Not everything," I corrected._

_ I lashed out with my left hand again and a steady stream of electrical arcs leapt from my fingers and sizzled across the remaining distance to crash into Brakiss's chest. He screamed as his body contorted and twisted under the assault, his muscles complaining, resisting as they were impacted by the energy discharge._

_ After a couple of seconds, I lowered my hand again and released my grip on the Force. The electrical dance stopped and Brakiss was left on his back on the walkway, heaving and moaning and smoking._

_ "How—?"_

_ "I have learned much you kept from us," I said loudly, making my point more to Jaina than to my foe. I looked up at her from the corner of my eye to see that her mouth was agape in genuine surprise. I hadn't told her I'd learned anything akin to what she'd just seen. Likely, she would only have expected it from Brakiss, whom we both knew could call on the same power._

_ "Jaina!" Brakiss said weakly. He used the guardrail to pull himself heavily to his feet and shot me a disgusted look before looking back up at the young woman from our lives._

_ She leapt from the higher level and landed solidly on the walkway a few meters behind where Brakiss stood. She regarded him with a cool look as her lightsaber found its way into her hand. She activated it without a word and took on a defensive stance equal to my own._

_ "What is this madness?" Brakiss hissed, looking from her to me. "What has come over you both?"_

_ "You lied to me," Jaina accused. "You knew all these years who my parents were. You knew they were still alive, and you deliberately took me away from them."_

_ "What?" Then, as comprehension sank in; "Are you saying you would rather have been raised by them? Are you saying you would rather be a _Jedi_?"_

_ "No!" Jaina snapped. "I have learned things about the Force the Jedi would never have taught me. I have learned things about life that my parents would likely have shielded me from. And for that I have you to thank. But you _lied_ to me!"_

_ "Tarkin's Teeth, girl," Brakiss snarled, "if I'd told you the truth, you'd have run back to those heroes and told them everything. Do you think I could take that risk?"_

_ "See what I mean, Jaina?" I asked her. "He has no regard for you at all. All he cares for is things that benefit him, all he loves is himself. He would use you and me both to further his own agenda and then kill us both when we served no further purpose. In that regard he is almost like Sith. But he refuses to adhere to their teachings in full. He refuses to learn all that he can, and is content with what he already knows."_

_ "What do you know of Sith, boy?" Brakiss hissed, teeth bared as he looked to me again._

_ "I know more of them than you ever would. I have unlocked the secrets of the holocron you kept locked away on Msst for years."_

_ "Thief!" He charged at me, but Jaina was quicker. She reached out with the Force and shoved him so hard that the extra momentum pushed him past me. He was, unfortunately for me, quick enough to block my swing for his legs as he passed._

_ I pressed the advantage. Now that I knew for certain that Jaina was on my side, I had no compunction killing him. I knew she would likely mourn the loss, but at the same time she would be liberated by it, and she had just realised that._

_ When Brakiss got back to his feet, I hammered down on his lightsaber. He called on what strength he had and brought his own up. It didn't budge out of the way, and so I hammered down again and again, trying to break the shield. Jaina leapt over us both and slashed across his middle. She missed with her first strike, instead slicing clean through the flowing red cape that was clipped to his shoulders. Brakiss snarled and whirled to face her._

_ I thought I had him then, and swung my lightsaber to lop off his head. But he caught me by surprise, and his foot caught me under the chin and sent me crashing backwards to the walkway plating._

_ I scrambled to my feet again and saw that in those precious seconds, Brakiss was forcing Jaina back further and further along the long walkway to the platform on the other side._

_ With the particular lightsaber style she was fighting with presently, the narrow space awarded by the presence of the guardrails made her defensive strikes and parries easy and impenetrable. But Zak knew that when Brakiss had her on that platform, he'd have a lot more room to manoeuvre around her and take advantage of every side. She would have to switch to another style, and that would likely cost her._

_ I raced forward to catch them just as they stepped onto the platform._

_ Jaina ducked under a high stroke and swept her leg out to catch Brakiss's ankles. He tripped up and she took a couple of steps away from him to avoid the flailing lightsaber as he went down._

_ While he was down, I placed my foot on his outstretched hand and pressed down with all my weight. I heard and felt the bones cracking under the skin and flesh. Brakiss groaned and bit his lip hard to contain the pain of the hand shattering under my boot. Jaina advanced and kicked his lightsaber free and over the edge, where it clattered to the stone floor of the hangar deck and shut down._

_ I looked down at Brakiss then, and saw him looking back at me with as much hatred as he could fill into those eyes of his. He groaned again in pain as Jaina crushed his other hand beneath her own boot. I didn't bother to contain my laugh of glee._

_ "So …" I started, smiling. I looked up at Jaina and saw that, while she wasn't smiling, she wasn't exactly presently upset about the outcome. "I find myself in a most enviable position, it seems. Do you have any final words or requests before your miserable excuse for a life comes to a sudden and not so much unexpected end?"_

_ Brakiss spat at my boot, so Jaina kicked him in the side of the head. "I believe the lady was offended by that," I said mockingly. "Would you care to apologise?"_

_ "I would sooner become a Republic senator!" Brakiss hissed._

_ "So be it," I said with a bored sigh._

_ I inverted my lightsaber so that it was pointed down at Brakiss's chest. Then I thrust down with enough force to drive the plasma through him and the durasteel-and-ferrocrete platform beneath with little resistance. Brakiss gasped at the searing pain of the blade piercing his heart and driving through. He didn't seem to notice as Jaina lined her own lightsaber up with the middle of his head._

_ As he closed his eyes for the final time, she thrust her own lightsaber through him, and destroyed him._

Darth Nemuritor was so caught up in his memories that he hadn't noticed that his prisoner—his other self from the parallel universe—had been brought to see him.

Recalling Brakiss's death had been pleasurable; mostly because it had started his journey down the path of the Sith, but also because it had been the moment when Jaina had proven her loyalty to him.

But now he was about to partake of a different kind of pleasure. Tormenting his other self would fulfil his needs for the day, and he so much wanted to see if his efforts would pay off. On some level, seeing himself as a Jedi disgusted him. But there was also the chance for learning, as well as torture. He felt the insatiable need to learn what it was about the Jedi that had lured his other self into their graces; to learn what it was that may have led him astray in his own life.

"Ah, Zak," he said with a wicked smile. "I'm so pleased you could show."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

_**JEDI TEMPLE; CORUSCANT**_

Jacen and Talesa left Alitha in the shuttle to finish the shutdown sequences after they landed. With their lightsabers appropriated by the Sith variant of Zak, Jacen was apprehensive and cautious about departing.

Coruscant wasn't as busy in this world as Jacen remembered from his own. It seemed … subdued, somehow. It was as if the population had dwindled some, or was under the noose of martial law. Considering the threat the Jaina and Zak from this world posed, he wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case.

Despite all that, there was still a generous welcoming committee waiting on the shuttle pad at the Jedi Temple.

He could sense several familiar presences outside; Jedi mostly, but there was a healthy smattering of CSF officers there as well.

When they descended the ramp, Jacen wasn't exactly disappointed by what he saw awaiting them. At the forefront of the group was a party of Jedi Knights and Masters. At the head of _that_ group was the parallel universe's variation of his uncle.

This Luke Skywalker was different in that his thick hair had been cropped to a straight military cut, and there was an angry deep scar marring the left side of his face. The scar ran across the corner of his left eye at one point, and so as a result that eye was half closed. The other eye, however, glared across the landing deck at Jacen and Talesa. There was no mistaking the look: hatred.

Standing beside him on his left was the Mon Calamari member of the Jedi Council, and the niece to the late Admiral Ackbar; Jedi Master Cilghal. She looked more or less the same across the distance to the one Jacen knew from his own world. The only difference being that her robes weren't the serviceable cloth that would be expected of someone on the Council, but rather a military variant with cortosis plates over her arms, chest and legs.

In fact, the entire party was plated in cortosis in some degree. All the Jedi had it overlaid across their robes to protect their arms, legs and chests. The CSF officers and agents were clad in it from head to foot.

"Stop right there," Luke Skywalker said. Jacen noticed for the first time that the Jedi Master's lightsaber was in hand, and that his thumb was idly brushing across the activation trigger as if he was eager bring the weapon to life.

Jacen obeyed without a second thought, and Talesa did the same beside him. He scanned the crowd for other familiar faces and saw a couple of other Jedi Knights he knew, including Keyan Jace. Only one other member of the council was present. It tore at Jacen's heart to see that it was Kylia Okras, the Shi'ido that had died trying to free Jaina and Zak from Brakiss three years ago.

When Talesa noticed Keyan standing near the rear of the group of Jedi, she released a pitiable sound. Jacen winced at the despair in the sound. Keyan was perhaps the most changed of them. One of his eyes was missing, and that same side of his face was marred by burn and slashing scars. His hair was gone, shaved back all the way to the scalp, and his nose had been broken in a couple of different places. He wore a sleeveless tunic without a robe, and Jacen could see that his left arm was but a silver-plated prosthetic.

"Identify yourself," Luke Skywalker shouted, "and the identity of your passenger, immediately!"

Jacen swallowed hard, and mustered as much sheer courage as he could. His position at the moment was a precarious one. Facing so many Jedi who appeared to be hostile wasn't something he'd ever considered might happen. These were people he knew well, people he knew he could laugh and smile with. But at the same time, there was not a smile amongst them, nor a friendly glance, nor anything that reminded him of the people he knew back home.

There was just hostility, anger, hatred, distrust. They were all traits of the Sith, and yet they were present in such abundance in all of these good Jedi. On some level he could sympathise with the reason behind those emotions; how would he have reacted in their place?

"I am Jacen Solo," he started, swallowing again. "My companion is called Talesa Valara, and our passenger is a woman by the name of Alitha Palpatine. We just escaped from the Sith."

A quiet murmur went around the group then. "_Palpatine?_" "_Did he just say Palpatine?_" "_It's a trick! The last Palpatine is dead!_"

Luke hushed them all with a raised hand and there was silence once more. His cold stare, however, continued to pierce through Jacen and make him want to shiver. "You cannot possibly be who you are," he said plainly.

"I understand your reservations, Un—" He stopped himself short of the familial address. "Master Skywalker," he finished instead. "And I can assure you that there is an explanation for how it is indeed possible."

Cilghal stared at him, and Jacen felt the gentle probe of the Mon Cal's presence intruding into his mind. He allowed her to do so without resistance, and he felt Talesa open herself to a similar scan by Luke Skywalker himself, before the older Jedi frowned, his one good eye matching the level of closure of his bad one.

"Your thoughts, at least, confirm your identities. However …" The Jedi Master nodded to the CSF units closest to Jacen and Talesa and they slung their rifles over their shoulders to slip into back straps. They drew blaster pistols in their place, and approached slowly. "I think it would be in _our_ best interests for you to remain in detention until we can confirm your identities through other means.

"Then, and only then, will you have the chance to grace us with your explanation." He nodded again to a trooper near him with white stripes on his blackened shoulder plates. "Take them to the _Jedi_ detention centre. We're equipped to deal with these prisoners, you are not. Don't forget the one in the shuttle, either. And I want them all squared away in their _own_ cells. Be quick about it."

"Yes, Master Jedi," the soldier replied. Jacen could swear there was a cold edge to his tone, but he wasn't entirely sure.

There was nothing he could do but be led away from the ship.

* * *

No one spoke to him in three days. His meals were brought to him when he was asleep—vacuum-sealed ration packs that lacked all taste and had the texture of Tatooine sand. His cell was cut off from the Force by Ysalamiri cages behind the walls. He could often hear the creatures clawing across the cages and screeching whenever their nutrient deposits were empty.

There were no lights to see, but Jacen knew that the surveillance cameras would compensate for that with night vision sensors. The doors shut out exterior corridor light by slipping into place from within the frame itself.

So when they came from him three days later, his eyes burned at the sudden exposure to the light streaming in from the corridor.

"On your feet, Jedi," a voice said above him. Unaccustomed to the sound of anything save the Ysalamiri and his own breathing, eating and movements for the past three days, Jacen was at a loss at first to pin the identity of his visitor. And yet, that didn't stop him from getting to his feet at once and standing straight in the middle of his cell, awaiting instruction.

"Come with me," the voice said again.

Jacen nodded and took a handful of steps forward, taking him out of the cell and into the corridor. After a moment, he saw the blurred outline of another person walking ahead of him, and determined that that person had been who had freed him. Assuming that he was expected to follow them, he did so without another word.

They walked in silence for what seemed like an hour before his escort stopped, pushed open a door, and waited. Jacen went in first, and was surprised to find himself in a washroom. The door closed behind him; his escort remained outside.

Half an hour later, Jacen left the refresher in fresh civilian clothes tailored exactly to his fit in exactly his colours. He'd found them waiting for him in the washroom after a long, hot sanisteam and donned them immediately. His old clothes he tossed into the laundry unit, where he expected they would be disposed of rather than laundered.

He couldn't fault that. He hadn't had a chance to change since before he, Zak and Talesa had come to this strange universe. Since then, he'd slept in a mouldy shuttle, shimmied trees, rolled around on floors, slept in disgusting, damp cells, and sweated almost through the entire ordeal.

His sight working properly now, he took a good look at his escort, who was still waiting for him, and his heart stopped for a split second. It was as if he were looking into a mirrpanel.

"I don't know what to say," he admitted to his other self. He noticed that his other self was also in the combat garb he'd noticed on the Jedi around here, but that it was more scuffed and worn than the others.

"You could say thank you, for starters," his mirror self said testily.

"Thank you," Jacen said. He ran his fingers through his hair and waited. "Back to my cell, I guess?"

"Come with me," the other Jacen replied.

He followed his other self silently down a corridor that led away from the cells, and up several flights of stairs until they reached a large double door. The other Jacen shoved one of the doors open with the Force as they approached, and the two of them entered the chamber beyond unhindered.

The light in here was dim, but not dark. Jacen found he could still see well. Lighting was helped a little by the glowing green and red hologram in the middle of the chamber, hovering half a meter above what looked to be a strategic planning board set into a dodecagonal shaped table coming up from the floor.

Around the table stood Luke Skywalker, Maru Chidor—minus half of his horns—Kylia Okras in her natural shape, Keyan Jace and a young man by his side that Jacen did not recognise, and a grizzled and dark-faced Han Solo.

He gulped when he saw the hostile look the altered Han Solo shot him. Jacen assumed the man still wasn't convinced of his identity, if they'd even confirmed it yet. Either that or he resented there being two Jacen Solos.

"I'm glad you could join us, Jacen," Luke Skywalker said without expression. "And I do apologise for having confined you and your friends for as long as I have. I'm afraid that security measures on Coruscant have tripled in a past few years due to unexpected infiltrations, and we couldn't just take your claim at face value."

"Friend," Jacen corrected.

"Excuse me?"

"Friend. Talesa is my friend. Alitha is not. We only brought her along because, One; we were locked into the same cell as her at the Sith stronghold, and Two; we figured she _may_ know something that could help the Republic."

"Did you question her to confirm as much?" Maru Chidor asked. "Or are you guessing?"

"I'm guessing. I figured if it was anyone's right to question her, it was the Republic's. While I can sympathise with your conflict, it has nothing to do with me."

This seemed to anger a lot of them present, including his mirror-self, who was standing beside him. "What do you mean 'nothing to do with you'? Are you claiming that the suffering of countless billions is no concern to you? You claim to be Jacen Solo, and yet you care nothing for the innocents being slaughtered in this war." This came from Han Solo. "Disgusting!" he spat.

"I _am_ Jacen Solo. And I _do_ care about the fate of the innocents, but they are not _my_ innocents to care for. They're his!" Jacen said, pointing to his double.

"What is that—?" Han started to object.

"You said you had an explanation for these peculiar claims of yours," Luke interjected, shooting Han a disparaging look. "And I would care to hear them in earnest. But we will not entertain foolish notions that have no basis whatsoever in fact. So if you _are_ a clever plant by my niece and her Hutt-spawn husband, be warned that every one of us in this chamber is armed and prepared to kill you, should it be required."

Jacen nodded. "My friends and I are not from your world …" Jacen started.

And then he spent the next few hours relating all the relevant information to them. He told them all about how he had been exploring caves with Talesa and Zak. He told them all about how, from there, they had somehow wound up in this strange and different universe. He relived the duel with the Lady Lumiya on Cab'uL Tuar where the three of them had been humiliatingly defeated and Zak had lost his leg, only to have it reattached later.

Then he told them how they'd all awoken to find themselves prisoners, sharing a cell with Alitha Palpatine. He told them how Zak had then been taken to see the Sith versions of himself and Jaina Solo, leaders of what this Luke Skywalker had called the True Sith. He then told them about how Zak had volunteered to stay behind to distract them while Jacen and Talesa escaped and fled to the Republic.

What he _didn't_ tell them was Zak's identity. He didn't want to tarnish what belief they had in him thus far. Whenever he spoke of Zak, he referred to him as "the other friend". He didn't tell them how they had crossed universes, because truly he had no idea how. And he didn't tell them the real reason Zak had stayed behind with the Sith because it would only have made them laugh and call him stupid.

When he was done, he looked around at all the Jedi, and Han Solo, to see similar looks of doubt and disbelief present. Again, he couldn't fault them on this. If he had been in their position and their Jacen had come to him with a similar story, could he really say he would have believed it without any proof?

No, he couldn't.

"That's a very interesting … story," Luke Skywalker said after a pause. He scratched at the prominent scar along his face with a nail and frowned. "But what proof is there to back your claims?"

"You've had me here for three days now," Jacen said boldly. "In that time, have you not taken the time to run my blood and compare my genetic markers to your Jacen here?" He gestured to the other Jacen pointedly, and the others around the table glanced at each other with grim expressions.

"We have," Luke said. "And our resident Kaminoan has confirmed that neither of you is a clone. Both of your DNA structures are perfect in every finite way."

"Then what other explanation is there?" Jacen challenged. When no one offered an alternative, he smiled. "Then I think my claims are valid. Until one of you can come up with the evidence to the contrary, I will be sticking to my story, thank you very much."

"Bah!" Han slapped the tabletop hard, then rounded the table and left the chamber without another word to anyone.

After the door had slammed shut behind him with enough force to rattle Jacen's teeth, his Uncle's alternate graced him with an apologetic smile. He raised his hands plaintively. "I'm sorry for my law-brother's attitude, Jacen. But this war has been very hard on the Solos. I'm afraid that he and our Jace here are pretty much the last of them."

Jacen nodded sympathetically and avoided his other self's gaze.

"Your friend will be here shortly," Master Skywalker started. "She's being given the same opportunity to wash up that you were given. Again I apologise for having left that so long. I'm sure you were uncomfortable in the clothes you were in."

"Very much so." Jacen grimaced.

"When she arrives," Master Chidor started from a couple of spaces over from Skywalker, "we have some questions about the True Sith. It's our hope that during your time in their detention cells, you were able to glean _something_ that might help us."

"I'll do my best," Jacen offered.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

_I hated this place. It was too … crowded, though I had yet to come across a soul. I think they knew I was here and they were hiding from me. _She_ must have known just how futile that would be. After all, she was family._

_ So when I finally discovered them hunkered down in the lower levels, I wasn't at all surprised to see that she and her fellow Jedi Master were standing at the front of the group with their lightsabers out. I didn't care. They could only shield the younger ones from me for so long. Then they would die slowly, watching as I butchered the rest of them._

_ Zak had told me I'd enjoy this mission, even though he wasn't telling me anything about it. And if I was honest with myself, I hadn't felt this elated, this full of adrenaline, since we'd killed Brakiss a year ago. I'd stopped thinking of him as "Father" on that same day._

_ It had been hard, but I'd recognised in that instant when he was locked in battle with Zak that everything he'd purportedly done for me had been a lie. My whole life, my bringing up had been a sham. And it was all to perpetuate his own agenda. Of what that was, we would never know, nor would we ever care._

_ A lot had changed in that year. The holocron Zak had found had been pilfered by the both of us for all of its knowledge before it was destroyed. It had belonged to Darth Revan, a Jedi from the Old Republic who had turned to the dark side of the Force and become a Sith Master. Unfortunately for him, he'd been betrayed by his apprentice, Malak, and captured by the Jedi, who'd spent as much effort as they had into rehabilitating the former Jedi. It worked, and he led the Jedi to defeat the Sith Malak and bring the Sith Empire to its knees._

_ I found a second holocron hiding on Korriban five months later. Again, both Zak and I pilfered the Sith knowledge within—this time the holocron had belonged to the legendary Sith'ari, Darth Bane. Then the device was destroyed. It was then that Zak brought his idea to me to again reforge the Order of the Sith, much as Darth Bane had once done in his day. We would adhere to the stricture of the Rule of Two, but there would ever only _be_ the two of us. He planned to devote his time to unlocking the secrets of eternal life, that we both might live forever, never aging, never fading away._

_ We would forever rule the Sith, and any that might oppose us would be swept aside as Brakiss had been._

_ Our home was on New Alderaan now. Zak assured me that that wouldn't change in the foreseeable future. The Jedi avoided the world as much as they possibly could because of the dark side energies that permeated the world. I hoped he was right._

_ But we weren't Sith yet, I feared. Though Zak and I both wanted to be Sith, we had no way of knowing how we could make that happen. To the best of our knowledge, Palpatine and Vader had been the last of the Sith, and they had both been destroyed at Endor. With them gone, there were no more Sith. There was no one Zak could manipulate into taking him as an apprentice and granting him the title. That meant that there was no one Zak could kill to claim the title of Master and bestow the same upon me._

_ That was _my_ main mission. While he worked on finding a way to make the two of us the Sith Eternal, it was my job to find a way for us to be Sith. It was a challenge I stuck to. I relished it. I figured that if I could accomplish such a feat, then indeed anything was possible._

_ "Who are you?" the woman with the red hair demanded of me as I advanced on her and her companion with my lightsaber drawn. "What do you want here, darksider?"_

_ I didn't reply other than to reach for her. I gripped her around the neck with the Force and tossed her aside. The other Jedi, perhaps a decade older than the one with the red hair, advanced on me with her own lightsaber drawn. The blade was green, and contrasted sharply against the red of my own._

_ I flicked my wrist, bored, and my lightsaber twirled around just in time to block the powerful slashing stroke of the Jedi's incoming weapon. Deflected to the side, I aimed a precise kick to follow through and caught her in the rump, sending her sprawling to the floor._

_ The path to the young ones was clear now, but I knew it wouldn't remain so. I advanced anyway, goading the two Jedi. From all the things Brakiss had ever taught Zak and I about the Jedi, I knew one thing was certain of them: they would predictably always throw their lives in danger to save the lives of others. Self sacrifice was one of their strong traits._

_ It was true that the Sith practiced self sacrifice themselves, in a diminished way. But they would never sacrifice their own lives to protect others. Masters would sacrifice their apprentices to save themselves and go on to teach new apprentices. Apprentices would sacrifice their masters so that they themselves could _become_ the master._

_ Zak and I wanted to change this. As much as I hated to admit it, we were almost Jedi-like in the way we risked our own lives to protect each other._

_ "No!" the voice of the red haired woman screamed. A blurring figure slammed into the side of me and I was thrown sideways away from the younglings._

_ I came up swinging my lightsaber at her, only vaguely amazed that neither of us had been killed in the tumble with both our lightsabers activated. The woman was quicker than me by seconds and ducked away before I could land a single hit._

_ My frenzied slashing didn't go entirely unrewarded, however. I heard a discomforted grunt from behind me and chanced a quick look over my shoulder to see that the other Jedi had tried to come up behind me as I faced her red haired companion. She got too close—unfortunate for her, but oh so sweet for me. My lightsaber caught her across the midsection and left a charred gash across her abdomen._

_ She went down whimpering at the pain, and I turned my attention back to the other senior Jedi._

_ "One down," I said with a gleeful grin._

_ "You _monster_!" the Jedi roared, charging at me again, foregoing any common sense she may have had. Clearly, she had to realise she was doomed. Why else would she abandon the reason and logic Jedi were so famous for?_

_ When she was upon me, she swung her lightsaber hard and fast, aiming to take off my head. I stood my ground, and used the Force to augment my movements as I slipped my lightsaber into all the right places to deflect hers. Every time her lightsaber was knocked to the side, I swatted at her head or her legs. But she was shrewder than that. She dodged out of the way always within a second or two to spare, recovered, and then wheeled around to come at me again._

_ If her strikes weren't so powerful as to jar my shoulder and elbow joints, I would have laughed at how comically Sith her expression was._

_ And yet there was something about it that was somehow familiar._

_ Then it clicked. Brakiss had told Zak and I everything there was to know, that he knew, about Emperor Palpatine's Imperial regime. If memory served, there had been _two_ people within the Empire that the Emperor trusted implicitly. The first had been his apprentice, Darth Vader, who he had turned from the ranks of the Jedi in the closing days of the Clone Wars so long ago. The second had been a Force-sensitive woman he'd discovered on Coruscant by the name of Mara Jade. She'd earned the title "Emperor's Hand" because of her ruthlessness, and her complete and utter devotion to the Emperor._

_ But, if memory also served, she'd helped out Skywalker and the Republic during Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign sixteen years ago._

_ How fortunate it was that I now found myself face-to-face with one of the Empire's worst traitors._

_ "You must be the Emperor's Hand," I said teasingly as I backed off and circled around to her left. Cautiously, she turned with me, maintaining eye contact as I took each step around her._

_ She spat on the ground at my feet and I stopped, fizzed. "I don't go by that anymore," she snapped._

_ "Perhaps not," I said, grinning again. I twirled my lightsaber playfully around my fingers and took another step. "But you once did. You were once one of the worst murderers in the galaxy. How is it that you now find yourself in the good graces of the Jedi Order?"_

_ Mara Jade didn't answer me, and I had to admit that was a little annoying. I feinted, and she fell for it and went to block the strike that wasn't even there. I twirled around her, kicked out, missed, and twirled again to avoid the violet blur of her lightsaber's blade buzzing at my head._

_ "Did you have to bed someone to do it?" I taunted again. Then I laughed as a thought occurred to me. "Was it _Skywalker_?"_

_ Mara's face turned an interesting shade of scarlet—all the confirmation that I needed that I'd been right, even if I had only intended it as a taunt. I found that rather … interesting. I don't know why. I filed it away for future reference._

_ An idea occurred to me then._

_ "Then I suppose it would do you well to learn that you challenge your lover's niece!" I charged forward, screaming a battle cry intended for nothing more than to make the woman flinch._

_ Either it was what I had said or the battle cry, or perhaps a little of both, that distracted her. She stopped, frozen in place as though seeing something for the first time. Too late to react, she swung her lightsaber to knock mine out of the way. It succeeded, only slightly. I allowed the momentum of the recoil to pull me into a backspin and cackled as my lightsaber passed through the woman's midsection._

_ I switched off my blade, turned to face her, and then let loose with a storm of electricity powered by the Force, frying her every muscle._

* * *

_When Zak found me an hour later, I was bathed in the blood of the younglings. I'd taken more pleasure dispatching them than I had the two older Jedi; perhaps because in doing so I was partly denying the Jedi a future generation. Destroying the two Jedi Masters had done nothing more than set them back a couple of potentially valuable assets, instructors, warriors. The death of all those younglings would hit the Jedi harder when they found out._

_ Perhaps._

_ The knowledge that my biological uncle—Luke Skywalker, leader of the Jedi Order—had found a mate was something I hadn't expected. I had never known the man in my life, but Zak had regaled me with tales of his brief encounters with him and my parents from years before being trapped in stasis, during the days of the Rebel Alliance._

_ From what he had told me, I had never been able to picture Skywalker as anything other than a man who would have devoted his entire life to the Jedi way. It had never occurred to me, and likely not to Zak either, that Luke was a man like any other, with the needs and desires of a man._

_ So perhaps, for him, hearing of Mara Jade's death would deal him equal or greater pain. I kind of wished I would have the opportunity to see that pain reflected in his eyes. Perhaps, one day, Zak would permit me the honour of dispatching him. Then I could goad him much as I had goaded Mara._

_ "Well done, my love," Zak praised, looking around at the bodies and the blood that surrounded him. He reached down and snatched the lightsaber from Mara Jade's companion's hand, flipped it over in the air as he examined it, and then clipped it to his belt with a bored sigh. "I actually expected that it would take longer. I didn't expect the Emperor's Hand to be so easily manipulated."_

_ "She was a slave to her emotions. Partway between Jedi and Dark Jedi," I said, almost admiringly. "She fought better than her companion, smarter. Her downfall was allowing me to use her feelings against her. It wouldn't have worked on someone like Skywalker."_

_ "No," Zak replied, thinking. When he reached Mara Jade's body he held out his hand and her lightsaber slipped from her cold fingers. It flew the short distance to his open hand and he grasped it tightly, examining it with a smile. "She knows how to make a lightsaber, I'll give her that," he said._

_ "I guess," I said with a shrug. "Nowhere near as efficient or comfortable as, say, mine."_

_ "No," he replied, not smiling anymore. "No, it isn't." He tossed the lightsaber to me and I caught it deftly, grasping it much as he had. "A trophy, my dear. Remember this victory well. It's a heavy blow against the Jedi."_

_ "And Skywalker," I said, turning up my chin in defiant pride._

_ "Skywalker?"_

_ "Mara Jade was his mistress." The look on Zak's face was priceless. He hadn't at all expected that. I loved that I could still surprise him at times, and so did he. He claimed that it kept him on his toes. "Or wife. I don't know which for sure, but the implication remains the same. He will be affected as much by her death as by the deaths of the young ones."_

_ Zak was standing before me now and he looped his arm around my waist and drew me close. We kissed for what seemed like hours, but which was only a couple of minutes. When he drew away, I opened my eyes and gazed deeply into his._

_ The brown I remembered from when I'd been a child and Brakiss and I had first met Zak had transformed slowly over the years to the darkened yellow they were now. The edges of his irises were bloodshot, red with forks lashing out across the whites._

_ Though my eyes would be similar in appearance to him, I knew, I was always mesmerised by that change in him. It signified just how wholly he was becoming with the dark side._

_ "You play a dangerous game, my love," he whispered to me, touching his forehead to mine. "To play Skywalker's feelings against himself is to touch a charged wire. Are you sure you want to use such warfare against someone like him?"_

_ I nodded without hesitation. "To hear his lover was killed will cut him deeply. But to hear that she was destroyed by his own blood would cut even deeper."_

_ Zak kissed me again, and then released me and backed away a single step. "Our first step is taken," he said softly. He reached down to one of the broken corpses and dipped his fingers in the pooling blood. Then he righted himself and traced the bloody finger across his face, drawing intricate patterns. "The Republic will not ignore what we have done here."_

_ I had conflicted feelings about that. On the one hand, it had been _I_, not _we_, that had dealt this blow to the Jedi. It had been _my_ hand, not _ours_, that had murdered Mara Jade, her companion, and all their young charges. But on the other hand, it was gratifying to know that Zak would bear the responsibility of that in the face of the Republic. It made more confident in the _'us'_ that he would not just abandon me and let my fate be decided by the Jedi if they ever caught up with me._

_ He coated his finger in more blood and traced more patterns across his face. "We have armies willing to fight for us," I put forward, watching with fascination as the patterns begun to burn and sear into his skin—by what method I could not fathom. "And our facilities on Mustafar and Raxus have started production."_

_ "Jaina, my love," Zak started. He smiled and finished the last symbol on his face. It seared into his skin like the rest, though it did not seem to faze him in the slightest. "I believe you're proposing war."_

_ I smiled. He knew me too well._

_ Without being prompted, I turned my back to him and pulled my hair to the side to expose the back of my neck. A few seconds later, I felt the warm wetness of the blood._

_ Then came the burning._


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

_We had been summoned?_

Summoned?_ How _dare_ they! I couldn't get over the outrage. Zak seemed to be more at ease about it than I was. It was as if he had something planned, or he knew something, that I didn't know. As long as it benefitted the both of us, I wouldn't complain._

_ "Why are we here?" I whispered to him. Our guide, oblivious to my words, continued on ahead of us._

_ "Can't you feel it, my love?" Zak whispered back without looking at me. "This whole planet _reeks_ of the dark side. It's so intoxicating. I could never leave this place now. Why did you not tell me of this when you came back with that holocron?"_

_ I shrugged. "There was something that just didn't feel right at the time. I know that the worlds shrouded in the dark side make lightsiders nauseas, but this world almost had me doubling over in pain. I had to get away as soon as I completed my mission."_

_ Zak turned his head to look at me then, and examined me from head to foot in the space of a second. "You seem to be fine now," he stated plainly._

_ I frowned. He was right, of course. The psychic pain and constant sensation of impending doom were not present this time. In fact, I felt invigorated by the atmosphere that permeated not just the temple we were being led through, but the whole world. To have discovered that a cult of darksiders were present here, practicing in secret away from prying Jedi eyes … it made me think how many others were out there._

_ How many Sith, even._

_ I still had had no luck in finding a Sith who would anoint us. In fact, I'd found no evidence that anyone had ever been proclaimed Sith since the death of Palpatine and Vader. But there was something about being on Korriban that made me feel like I'd just taken a massive leap forward. Perhaps a Sith led this cult. Perhaps he would help us?_

_ "Perhaps," Zak said, having read my thoughts._

_ Our guide stopped and threw open a set of massive stone doors that had blocked our path. Beyond was a room shrouded so deeply in shadow that not even the floor was visible. I took a deep breath before I followed my lover and our guide inside._

_ The doors swung shut behind us with the sound of grinding stone, and I spun to look around._

_ Trapped!_

_ "Calm down, Jaina," Zak hissed._

_ I could feel our guide still, moving steadily away from us. We followed about a dozen steps before Zak held me back with an arm across my chest. I stopped, frowning again, and waited._

_ "Welcome," a strange voice said from the darkness._

_ "Who are you?" Zak said loudly. I waited patiently beside him, ready to speak only on my cue._

_ "You are known to me," the stranger's voice replied without acknowledging Zak's inquiry. I balked at that, but a hiss from Zak to me held me back from expressing my irritation. "Your names and lineages both. Zak Arranda from Alderaan; you lost your family when the dreaded Imperial Death Star destroyed your beloved world. Your family was survived by you and your sister when another relative was murdered by Darth Vader on Coruscant. Your sister was destroyed recently by a charlatan, a man who deceived you into thinking he knew the true nature of the Force. This is a deception you have discovered on your own, and your skills with the Force, and with the blade, are becoming infamous within the New Republic and the unaligned systems._

_ "Jaina Solo; born to Jedi blood through Vader's daughter, Leia Organa. You were born on Coruscant during the Imperial Remnant siege of nine ay-bee-why, and are the niece to the legendary Luke Skywalker. The man you knew as your father deceived you too. He took you from your true father, and your true mother, and then spent more than a decade moulding you into the perfect weapon he could use to destroy your uncle. I was genuinely impressed to hear of your dedication to the dark side. Destroying a family member is not easy."_

_ "You have not answered my question," Zak challenged, taking a step forward. He was oblivious to my remembrance of murdering the former Emperor's Hand._

_ "Perhaps I was mistaken. Her resolve wavers," the stranger's voice echoed._

_ Irritated, I spoke up. "My resolve _never_ wavers!" I screeched indignantly. "If I could go back and fight her again, I would do nothing different. She was my enemy, as much as she was my family. If my family would stand in my way, they would meet my blade!"_

_ The strange voice chuckled, amused by my statements, and a light flickered on in the distance. On the far side of the chamber we were in was a chair, almost throne-like, made of volcanic rock and granite. The surfaces were smoothed and elegant, flowing into the floor as if they were one and the same surface._

_ Upon the chair sat a man the likes I had never seen. He was taller than Zak and I, his shoulders and chest broad and his muscles bulging. But he was covered from head to foot in armour the likes I had never seen before. It all looked grey, dark, organic. The mask that covered his face looked made from the same substances. The effect worked in such a way that he looked like a demon, with eyes, one mustard yellow and one sapphire blue, gleaming from beneath the mask, and his lips cocked into a half-smile._

_ "We are the One Sith," the man said. Zak's back straightened at the words. I was right; we had discovered the Sith here. "I am its master, Darth Krayt."_

_ "You do, somewhat, resemble one," Zak said bitingly._

_ And to my surprise, the man in the strange armour actually laughed. He stood from his seat and approached them, one step at a time. Lights flickered from overhead to keep him visible with every few steps that he took. I resisted the urge to reach for my lightsaber—we were guests here._

_ When Krayt was barely two meters before us, he stopped, and his hands came together behind his back. "You have courage, dark one," he said, scrutinising Zak closely. "When I invite your kind here, there are not many who would jest with me like that."_

_ "I am not afraid of you," Zak said with a frown. "And though your armour is fearsome, I see no reason why I should."_

_ "There are more terrifying things to be afraid of than me, boy!" the man hissed. "I have seen things on the edge of this galaxy that would make you pale. I have met creatures so horrifying they would give you nightmares." He blinked, and then stood there in silence, looking Zak up and down for a good few minutes before turning his gaze upon me._

_ I felt his probes enter my mind, and I erected only a few barriers to keep him out of certain areas. My life was my business, but my power and my abilities I wanted him to know. I wanted him to know I could kill him if Zak so wished me to._

_ "You are both strong," the armoured man said. He looked to Zak once more, with a kind of longing showing from behind his eyes. I didn't like that look. "You, especially, would be an excellent addition to our number."_

_ "Oh?" Zak put on an air of ignorance._

_ "Do not jest with me further, boy," Krayt snarled. "Your powers over life and longevity would serve the One Sith. You would make us all strong. We could destroy the Jedi together."_

_ "What's in it for us?"_

_ "The thing you want most." Zak frowned. "Oh yes, Zak. Your thoughts betray you. You and your lover seek the Sith. You seek status within the Order of the Sith Lords. This I know. I know all there is to know about you both. But we are the only Sith left in existence with the right to claim the title. You will not get your status elsewhere."_

_ "You—"_

_ "Silence, woman!" Zak hissed before I could finish. I glared at him, displeased._

_ "What say you?" Krayt said, hands clasped in front of him now._

_ Zak nodded, and when the Sith looked at me, I nodded as well, knowing it was expected of me._

_ "Then consider yourself a brother and sister of the One Sith," Krayt said, hinting at another of his lopsided smiles. "On your knees."_

_ Though I didn't like the idea of leaving myself so exposed, there was something commanding about the way he said that. I recognised the choice at once, as I had given it often. It clearly stated "get on your knees now or you will die." So when Zak dropped to his knee in front of the armoured Sith, I followed his example without complaint or hesitation._

_ I heard the distinct hiss of a lightsaber and looked up to see that Krayt had drawn one. I hadn't seen it at his hip, so he must have been hiding it elsewhere. The lightsaber thrummed in a way that told me that it was being slashed through the air._

_ "I name thee Darth Nemuritor," Krayt said from above me, "Dark Lord of Life. You will make us strong and whole."_

_ Zak stood up beside me, but I remained on my knee as I felt the heat and saw the crimson of a lightsaber come down at me. The blade stopped just above my left shoulder, and then arced over my head to stop just above my right. Then the blade was gone again._

_ "I name thee Darth Devess," Krayt told me, saying it loudly enough for anyone else in the massive chamber to hear. And I could sense them on the edges of the room. There were perhaps thirty of them, all of them watching me. "You are the Devoted Lady of Darkness. You will forge us together in a bond stronger than that of the Jedi Order._

_ "The two of you will fear nothing in the face of your enemies. You will bring death to our enemies without their knowing of our existence. When the time is right, we will come out of the shadows, and we will rule this universe. May you make the One Sith strong and—"_

_ Zak unclipped his lightsaber and swung it at Darth Krayt's armoured chest. When his lightsaber bounced off the strange armour, I saw that there had been no damage left behind. Surprised at Zak's bold move, and the failure of that move, I flicked my own lightsaber to life and stood ready to defend myself._

_ "HOW DARE YOU!" Krayt roared in the face of the challenge._

_ His free hand came up over his shoulder and when it came back into my sight, it was wielding a second lightsaber. Both of them were encased in the same organic-looking material as his armour and mask._

_ "How _dare_ you challenge the One Sith!" Jeers and curses rang out from the other Sith present, and a few of them even flicked their own lightsabers to life._

_ While Zak faced off against Krayt in what was increasingly becoming evident as a glaring contest, I darted to the left and took out two of the unarmed Sith before they could draw their weapons. Then I darted back to Zak's side._

_ "Your One Sith is a kriffing joke!" Zak snarled. "Now that we have what we wanted, we can do away with you and take the power of the dark side all for ourselves, as is _our_ right!"_

_ "Your right?" Krayt screeched. He arced out with both lightsabers, one after the other. Zak deflected both, bored, and then thrust out with the Force. The Sith flew back a few meters before planting his feet and coming to a skidding halt. "Your right is to serve me and the One Sith until your death prevents you from doing so!"_

_ "The One Sith is a farce!" Zak slandered. He rushed forward and traded blows with Krayt for a moment. I stayed where I was, keeping my eyes on the other Sith in case one of them decided they had the courage to jump in and protect their master. "You would dilute the power of the dark side!" Zak's words were now matching his strokes._

_ A Sith jumped out at me, brandishing what looked to be a lightwhip. The cyborg woman flicked the weapon to life and lashed out at me. I deftly parried the energy tendrils of her weapon and dodged around the ones that looked like they were made of Mandalorian iron. When I breached her defences, I hit her plated chest with my shoulder hard enough to send her sprawling, then I took off all four of her limbs before she could get back up._

_ She screamed in rage, and two more Sith came at me, one with a double-bladed lightsaber, and one with two single-bladed ones. Unfortunately for me, they decided to flank me. One blade against three at any one time wasn't going to be doing me any favours, I decided._

_ I met the double-bladed Sith first, batting his weapon aside and crushing his nose underneath the pommel of my lightsaber before turning to his friend and slicing down low and through his leg._

_ The second Sith screamed as my blade passed through flesh. I felt his concentration build and, instead of toppling over with the uneven footing, he remained upright, supported by the Force as he hopped towards me in a way I thought was comical. I met both of his blades one after the other, blocking and parrying fast and hard._

_ I threw a wave of the Force against his chest and he toppled backwards, end over end. His friend came at me again, nose broken and blood streaming freely down his face. I went at him hard, swatting his blades away from mine until I saw an opening and took it._

_ I slashed straight up between his hands, catching his lightsaber's long hilt in the middle and destroying the single power cell powering both blades. The lightsaber switched off as it came apart in the Sith's hands, and, with nothing to stop me now, I took his head with a single stroke._

_ With a moment to spare, I turned and rushed to Zak's side and swung my lightsaber at Krayt's head. He blocked me and shoved out at me with the Force. I let it roll off my shoulders, making me stumble rather than fly, and then kicked out at his knees._

_ "The Rule of Two will keep the Sith strong!" Zak snarled._

_ "The Rule of One will make us stronger! One Sith, with many soldiers!" Krayt screamed._

_ "The dark side is not infinite, you fool!" I hissed, coming around behind him. He spun and swung his lightsaber into the path of mine. Simultaneously, his other lightsaber sprung up behind his back to block Zak. However, that left his legs unguarded, and Zak's next strike bounced off his leg. "Many Sith, as you would have it, would dilute the power!"_

_ "Two Sith are too vulnerable to extermination!" Krayt countered._

_ I almost rolled my eyes. Did he honestly have an answer for everything?_

_ A flash of flesh gave me my opening. _Go for the neck!_ I whispered to Zak across our silent bond. _It's exposed!

_Zak didn't bother to reply. Instead, he redirected his next swing to a higher angle. His swing missed, the lightsaber passing within centimetres of bare flesh. Krayt must have felt the heat of the weapon, for he spun around, snarling, and swung both of his lightsaber's at Zak's head in the same deadly stroke. Zak raised his lightsaber to a vertical point and caught both of Krayt's lightsabers against it._

_ I saw my opening, spun my lightsaber to the backhand, and plunged the blade deep into the back of the Sith's neck as if it was a vibroblade._

_ Krayt dropped both of his lightsabers, and I felt the pain he felt wash over me like a tidal wave. I absorbed it, took it in to make myself stronger. When Krayt fell to his knees and I looked into Zak's eyes, I knew he was feeling the same strength, the same pleasure that I felt at having won the day._

_ Then I noticed the blood._

_ A deep gash, weeping red and ugly, marred the left side of his face. It utterly destroyed one of the ancient symbols drawn in blood that he'd imbued through the Force into his skin years ago, and ascended up across his eye before coming to a sharp point. I stepped up to him, resisting the urge to fuss and fidget over the injury as I knew he would hate._

_ Instead I gave it a single, clinical inspection to make sure that it wasn't infected or too serious, and then I nodded to him._

_ "You are unhurt?" he asked me, tracing my jaw line with a finger tenderly._

_ "Unhurt," I echoed._

_ "Good." He turned from me then and swept his gaze around the edge of the room, where many of the Sith were standing in silence, in shock._

_ Those that had activated lightsabers but not attacked had since deactivated them. None of them uttered a word, none of them even seemed to know what to think. The cybernetic woman I had dismembered moments ago even remained silent, though alive._

_ "My former master was a charlatan," Zak began loudly for them all to hear, "not because he was a pretender, but because he was a fool. He believed he could shield us from the truth so that he could use and discard us whenever it was convenient. He is now dead because of that._

_ "Your master was, however, the worst pretender of all, and it sickens me that so many of you would be so despicable not to challenge him. The Rule of Two was laid down by the Sith'ari many centuries ago as a means to keep the Sith strong and secret. The Rule states that there shall only ever be _two_ Sith; one to embody the power, and one to crave it. The Rule was to make the Sith stronger by ensuring that when the apprentice had learned everything there was to learn from his or her master, he or she would then kill their master and ascend, to take an apprentice of their own. Each generation of Sith would become stronger, because each generation of Sith would have to overcome the strengths, powers, and abilities the generation before them used to dispatch their own mentor._

_ "I offer a new interpretation of the Rule of Two." I stood proudly next to him, sweeping my gaze as well. "I have mastered the secret to eternal life, and I have shared this gift with one other. There will be _two_ to embody the power from now until the end of time. Not a single one of you is worthy of the title of Sith—your master least of all._

_ "I offer you this choice: renounce whatever honours the fool bestowed upon you all. Denounce the memory of the fool to the fiery pits of Mustafar and pledge your allegiance from now until your death to us." He paused, turned three-sixty to sweet his gaze over all of Krayt's followers. "Or die where you stand."_


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

_Mygeeto—it was cold, it was bleak, and it was boring, unless you paid attention to the continued wail of blaster fire being exchanged between the forces under my command and those of the New Republic. Artillery cannons fired from both sides in the distance. Each side tried to take out the other's command centre with long range artillery strikes and bombing runs, only to be met by ray shields that negated such damage._

_ My own forces were holed up on the edge of the city, using abandoned and ruinous buildings for cover as we slowly pushed the advance._

_ Zak had tasked me personally with this mission. He said that there was a pair of Jedi on Mygeeto leading the Republic's defence of the system, and that I was needed to negate that advantage. With me, I'd brought one of our Dark Disciples—a Besalisk female strong in the dark side called Detraxi Lorn. She was currently holed up in safety within the command hub set up by the True Sith forces far outside the city._

_ If she was doing what she'd been brought to do, Detraxi Lorn would have been deep in meditation, negating the battle-enhancement meditations set up by the senior of the Jedi working with the Republic. If she was not, I would kill her. It was that simple._

_ I, meanwhile, had other issues to deal with. I was leading Sith'ari Squad, circling around to the left flank of the Republic's defences in order to try and catch them in a crossfire. According to that plan, my most trusted military commander, General Farran of what had once been the Galactic Empire, would be taking her own squads around the other side of the Republic forces to further complicate that crossfire._

_ The plan was of my own making, and as such there were no flaws. But that wasn't stopping my caution. I had to always be on guard in case one or both of the Jedi did something unexpected to ruin the plan._

_ My comm. bleeped and I plucked it from my belt, slammed down on the transmitter and frowned as I said, "What is it?"_

_ "_General Farran here, My Lady,_" the gruff voice returned. "_I apologise for the unscheduled communication during a communication blackout, but we're in position and my scouts have reported some movement and reshuffling in the Republic's ranks on the edge of the city._"_

_ Without a word, I snapped my fingers at the nearest black-armoured trooper and he handed me a set of macrobinoculars without a word. I didn't really need them, but it would take too much concentration to use the Force to get a closer angle with my naked eyes, and I was too busy shielding my location from the Jedi to divide my attention thus._

_ I looked through the macrobinoculars and could see almost instantly what Farran was talking about. Scout positions were pulling back, and the tank division on my side of the city was grinding away from us in the direction of the command hub I knew was at the far end of the city._

_ "Captain," I said slowly, looking up to the rooftops nearest us._

_ "Yes, My Ladyship?" the even-toned voice of Captain Blythe replied from over my left shoulder._

_ "Does that look to you like they're redeploying their sniper positions to meet Farran's flank?" I asked, frowning. She had better not given away her position so early._

_ There was a moment's pause as Blythe peered through his own macrobinoculars to assess the situation for himself. When he'd had sufficient time to do so, he lowered his binoculars and looked to her. "Yes it does, My Lady," he said with a frown. "Surely the General wouldn't be so careless?"_

_ "The General's defiant streak is legendary, Captain," I said. I pursed my lips in irritation. It wasn't so much _defiance_ that Farran had been known for. It was that she often disobeyed the direct orders of both myself and my husband in favour of tactics that had proven to work to about an equal level of effect._

_ "Perhaps she noticed something we didn't," Blythe offered uncertainly. I wasn't convinced._

_ I hammered the transceiver on my comm. unit and simultaneously reached out with the Force to find the rogue General. "Farran!" I hissed, angry. "Explain your failure to maintain covert movements until we were in position! The Republic is redeploying their snipers to counter your position!"_

_ Concentrating hard on the General, I applied a small level of pressure to her. I heard, briefly, gagging and gasping over the link before she released the transceiver. I held the pressure against the General's throat for a minute or two, imagining her going blue in the face with the lack of oxygen. Then I released her, and breathed a sign of disdain as I waited for a reply._

_ "_I …_" The General stopped, hacked a cough, then continued. "_We're not out of position, My Lady. I have followed your orders_ to the letter_!_"_

_ "Well, that makes for a remarkable change," I muttered, making sure she could hear me over the comm. Though she did not reply to my statement, I had a clear image in my mind of the General grinding her teeth at the accusation. "If you had followed my orders, _to the letter_, General, there would not be Republic forces moving to counter your impending attack."_

_ Blythe made as though to speak and I ignored the comm. device in favour of his counsel. "My Lady," he started carefully, "perhaps the General is doing as you ordered. Perhaps the reasons behind the Republic movements are something we aren't considering."_

_ "Like what, Captain?"_

_ "There are two Jedi with the detachment in the city. Is it not possible one of them foresaw the coming crossfire and is taking steps to defend against it?" Blythe paused, frowned as something occurred to him. "But then, why aren't they moving to counter our position as well?"_

_ "I'm using the Force to shield my presence from them. Entirely possible there's a bleed-over onto the rest of the squad."_

_ "They might not know we're here? Wouldn't this work to our advantage? With the snipers deploying to the other side of the city and the armour moving around to protect the Republic's command hub, that leaves their left flank open to attack."_

_ When the Captain's plan occurred to me as well, I nodded to him. "Have a jetpack-fitted squad get up onto those rooftops immediately. Lead them personally, Captain. I want a half-dozen snipers up there pinging the Republic snipers at once."_

_ "And the rest of the regiment, My Lady?"_

_ "Once you signal to me that the snipers have been taken care of, we'll be moving on the city. General Farran can serve her purpose as a decoy. She'll draw Republic forces away from us and into the areas they wouldn't otherwise defend."_

_ "Very good, My Lady," Blythe said. He dipped his head, replaced his helmet, and shot off into the air to get to his troopers at the back of the regiment._

* * *

_I was sitting there for another hour before Blythe radioed to tell me that the Republic snipers had been felled. I reacted on instinct. As his leader, I didn't have to respond to his report anyway. But even if I'd had to, I wouldn't have. I ordered the charge, and watched as waves of black-armoured foot soldiers poured over the barricades and headed into the city, keeping as low as was practical._

_ The idea was not to give away the charge until the last moment, when we were already penetrating the city and taking out their advance defences. Farran had been ordered to hold her position and deploy some light artillery and scouting to draw the Republic closer to her. She wasn't happy, but I didn't care. She would do as she was told or she would die. I was in no mood to deal with her nonsense._

_ When my forces hit the outer edge of the city, I took off. I sprinted as fast as the Force would allow across the ruined terrain between our advance post and the edge of the city. Not until I reached its outermost limits did I pluck my lightsaber from my belt and flick the blade to life._

_ A Republic regular stepped in front of me to halt my charge, bringing a blaster rifle up to bear. I pivoted when I reached him, slicing clean through the barrel of his rifle and melting it to uselessness. Then I spun the blade around my fingers and plunged it deep into the trooper's chest. He gasped, dropped his ruined blaster, and went limp on the end of my weapon. I pulled it out of him sideways, finishing the job beyond hope of repair, and continued my charge on._

_ Death surrounded me on all sides. My True Sith forces, the Republic's army; many of them were dying as they encountered each other. Light and heavy artillery shells slammed into the overhead ray shields that had protected the city from bombardments, but not from foot entry. Blasters were being fired from every vantage point, into every other point. Men in greys and browns were felled by men in black cortosis. Men in black cortosis were felled similarly by those men in greys and browns._

_ I drew heavily on the Force, sucking up all of the death, all of the pain, all of the fear. It made me stronger. I fed from it, like any good Sith would._

_ There was an enraged scream somewhere to my right, followed by a rocket shooting from a shoulder-mounted launcher. I heard the explosion, felt the death, but it was all out of regular sight._

_ Another couple of Republic troopers came at me, this time from either side as I passed a large, carved pillar that had been felled._

_ I swatted their clumsy blaster fire out of the way lazily and reached out to the one on my left with the Force and an outstretched hand. I gripped him tightly around the neck, flicked forcefully until I heard the snap, and then tossed him across to his companion on my right. The two collided and went down to the ground, but not before the living one fired a dozen shots into his dead companion in a foolish attempt to stop the advance._

_ As he struggled to push the dead trooper off him, I approached him quickly, gripped my lightsaber in the backhand, and stabbed it down through the both of them. I withdrew my lightsaber and held it steady as I stepped over the two of them and continued on._

_ I encountered only minimal resistance as I continued on to the command hub; most of the fighters were being intercepted by my own troops and eliminated._

_ When I reached the building, I deactivated and belted my lightsaber and touched a finger to my left temple as I concentrated on the interior of the building, ascertaining threats. There were a handful of soldiers in the lobby—most of them toting blaster rifles, one with a pair of holdout blasters who was probably the leader, and another with a repeater cannon. All of them were training their sights on the door, and not one of them exuded even a hint of fear._

_ I smiled. I'll fix that_,_ I thought to myself gleefully._

_ I lowered my hands to my sides and reached out for the Force. I drew on as much dark side energies as I could, focussing the power down my arms, channelling it into my palms. Then I thrust out to the solid durasteel door with both hands and unleashed the gathered power. Though the assault was invisible to the eye, the result was not._

_ The doors buckled and snapped off their hinges, flying inwards and smashing loudly into walls within the foyer. I heard the distinct squishing sound of an unfortunate someone being caught between the door and the wall and grinned as I drew and activated my lightsaber once more and darted into the building._

_ The Republic soldiers, now only _mildly_ fearful, thought they could be clever and catch me in a crossfire. Unfortunately for them, they severely underestimated my abilities._

_ I spun to the left, cleaving a man in two with a rapid flourish of my lightsaber while reaching for his companion and tossing him over my shoulder. With that one down, and two temporarily engaged in disentangling themselves and getting back to their feet, I turned to the next nearest: the repeater-wielder. He hammered down on the trigger and a rapid series of blaster fire screamed through the air at my chest. I flourished once, twice, and sent all the bolts away from me and into the walls or floor._

_ The soldier grunted irritation, took a step back and pulled back on the trigger. I reached out with the Force a split-second before the weapon fired and spun the weapon around in his grasp. The barrels, now aimed directly at his face, spewed forth with green ionised energy and the man was lifted off his feet at the force of having his head blown apart by the assault._

_ "Charlei!" someone behind me shouted._

_ I spun, dashed across the space. I hand-sprung over some low blaster fire, and came down feet first on the chest plate of a Republic soldier. He tried to raise his weapon but I kicked it aside and severed his head from his shoulders before turning again._

_ The two that had collided due to my efforts were free from each other now. They were half-hidden behind an overturned marble table, their blasters over the edge training on me._

_ I paused for an instant just to consider my situation. With four of the elites down—and I _had_ to assume they were elite if facing me brought only the slightest touch of fear to their minds—I was sure the others would have scampered. I'd expected them to regroup with the Jedi on the upper levels. I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't. When they all died here, that left less competent resistance between me and the Jedi._

_ I hissed as a stray blaster bolt singed the outside of my leg, and lashed out with a steady crackle of lightening from my fingertips at the offending soldier. Within seconds, the man was convulsing on the floor, containing his agonised screams quite well as the after-effects set in._

_ The other two renewed their assault on me, and I caught another blaster bolt to the shoulder, and a third passed through my hair. Miraculously, my hair didn't catch fire. That would have been more than I needed. But I felt the heat sear my scalp as the bolt passed within microns of it. I leapt in the air and flung myself into a whirlwind of motion. When I came down between the two, I was spinning so fast they couldn't move away fast enough. My lightsaber sliced through them both multiple times, cutting their midsections into even slices that fell to the floor one at a time._

_ With the temporary lull, I checked my wounds to make sure that they weren't too severe. I had a bacta injector in a pouch on my belt, but I wouldn't need it. The pain would fuel the dark side coursing within me. It would give me the strength I needed to kill both of the pitiful Jedi here on Mygeeto._

_ I took the time to retie my hair on the ascent through the building, however, to cover the chunk that had been seared from the mess during my incursion._

* * *

_Two hours later, and the battle was still raging. The first of the Jedi had been dealt with, and I had gained another scar to wear as a badge of honour. The Jedi Master, a Barabel by the name of Saba Sebatyne, had been a difficult opponent to fight. She moved in ways that I hadn't been expecting, and easily broke my defensive circles more than once._

_ But now that she was out of the way, I had only one more obstacle in my path. It would be easy. Even as wounded as I was, there was no challenge in taking on this young apprentice._

_ The boy paled when I stepped out of the lift to the renewed sounds of battle raging throughout the city around the building. He was a few years younger than I. With short, dark hair and piercing blue eyes full of fear and determination, he looked the sort I might have killed at a Jedi academy, rather than here in the thick of battle._

_ "You have no business here, darksider!" the boy hissed at me. I kept my lightsaber in hand, but deactivated for now. "Leave now, and take your army back to the pits of Mustafar that spawned you."_

_ I bared my teeth and hissed at him. "Your Republic will bow before the True Sith, or you will be swept aside to make way for the new order!"_

_ "Your 'order' is a _joke_!" the boy quipped. I fought to reign in my temper and avoid responding to his taunts. I vowed I would not let myself ever fall prey to the same trap that had destroyed Mara Jade on Yavin 4 so long ago now. "The Sith will never rule this galaxy."_

_ "We will, if we have to slaughter every last Jedi to do it!" I responded hotly. "Actually, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea …"_

_ I flicked my lightsaber to life, and the boy did so as well. I took a step to my right, and he did the same to keep the distance between us the same. We circled like this for a minute, glaring hatefully into each others' eyes, before the boy made his first mistake._

_ He lashed out, sending forth a wave of the Force to throw me off-balance. Then he followed right behind it with a charge, his lightsaber extended. I shoved off the weak attack and battered his lightsaber down to pierce the floor as he whipped past me, overshooting his target. Laughing, I kicked the back of his ankle to trip him up. He stumbled a handful of steps before righting himself against a guard rail and turning to me again._

_ "I give you this chance again," the boy started. "Take your army and leave."_

_ "And I give you this one chance;" I started in reply, "join us or _die_!" I dashed forward, slashing at him left-to-right with my lightsaber, and then right-to-left. He backed away a handful of steps and spun his lightsaber artfully around his fingers before coming at me swinging once more._

_ We traded blows for a time, and the youngster even managed to gain ground on me a few times. I berated myself harshly for those times; there was no way he would have had I been at peak performance. But I couldn't say that my failings were because of the battles I'd fought to get here, including the duel with this whelp's teacher. I could not make excuses. A Sith would never make excuses. A Sith would remain strong and accept their faults, turn them into advantages._

_ And I _did_ succeed in that regard a few times._

_ The boy hand-flipped backwards away from me and planted his feet firmly on the slanted plexiglass wall of the room. Just as he was building up his calves for a leap from that position, I drove my lightsaber into the glass by his feet, and then touched it gently with my palm near _that_ point. The entire glass shattered outwards with explosive force, and the boy lost his footing._

_ He fell—_

_ "Will you just _die_ already!" I snarled, looking down at the Jedi to see him hanging by a single hand by the window frame. His fingers began to slip, and he swung his other arm and grasped at the durasteel to secure a better grip._

_ "Not …" The Jedi paused, breathing heavily. "Not on your life!"_

_ "Fine!" I slashed at his exposed fingers with my lightsaber. I missed._

_ The boy refocussed the Force energies he'd been gathering in his calves to his biceps and forearms instead. He pulled himself up with such force that he shot up and over my head, landing firmly on the deck a few meters away from me. It was then I noticed that he had lost his lightsaber in the almost-fall._

_ "Give it up, child," I said softly. I pointed my lightsaber to the floor as I gained a step on him. "You cannot beat me. And you have less than a fighting chance without your weapon."_

_ The boy realised this as well; I could see the defeat in his eyes. But I knew that he wouldn't just give up. He would fight me, and, if possible, take me down with him. I remained cautious of traps, wary of deception._

_ "Who are you?" he demanded._

_ "I am your doom," I hissed. I was upon him before he could react, my lightsaber sunken deep into the young whelp's gut almost to the hilt. Looking over his shoulder, I could see the crimson blade sticking out from his lower back._

_ It gave me a kind of pleasure—two Jedi in one day. I hadn't felt this good since the day of Mara Jade's death._

_ "When you become one with the Force," I whispered into his ear, "tell your loved ones that Jaina Solo sent you."_

_ I took a step back, withdrawing my blade and watching as he fell to his knees pitifully. He looked up at me then, and the look I saw in his eyes stopped my heart cold._

_ He wasn't in pain, he wasn't even angry that I had killed him. But neither was he at peace. He looked … sad, and it was so similar a look to one I had seen in the mirror more than once._

_ "Sister …" he gasped._

_ And then he was gone._


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

_**THRONE ROOM, DARK ENCLAVE; KORRIBAN**_

The turbolift doors hissed open to admit Zak to a silent, dark throne room. Truth be told, he wasn't actually expecting anyone to be here at all. However, after escaping from his cell when a guard had allowed himself to fall for Zak's ploy of needing to use the refresher, his thoughts had turned to the locked safe he'd heard of locked away in the throne room.

Alitha had mentioned it once or twice before escaping with Jacen and Talesa, and it was supposed to be where Darth Nemuritor kept all of his most valuable trophies. Zak was no fool, so he assumed that what the Sith would consider a trophy was most likely to be the lightsabers of whatever Jedi had been destroyed by either of the Sith, or their Dark Disciples.

Zak was now determined to escape this wretched place and fly to the Republic to alert them to something he was positive was truth. So, felt the seemingly irresistible urge to retrieve those lightsabers so that the Jedi of this world would be able to have some closure.

Ever-watchful of the permeating darkness of the unfamiliar chamber, Zak approached what he saw was a flight of wide steps leading to a pair of marble thrones. He was acutely aware of the echo of each step he took; it didn't seem to matter one iota how stealthy he was. It was as if the floor had been designed to echo any footsteps upon it, so that the Sith would know of anyone trying to ambush them in the dark. In fact, when Zak thought on it some more, he was positive that was the exact reason behind it.

He couldn't shake the feeling of eyes watching him, though he could sense no one in the chamber, He found this odd, but not unheard of. He knew that it was possible that Nemuritor and Devess were seated in their thrones and hiding their presences in the Force.

He reached out with all his senses, touching every corner of the massive throne room with his mind in search of anyone that could have been hiding. He was sure that he wasn't alone, he just wished that he could sense whoever it was that was with him. All of the normal systems Zak could sense were offline at the moment, with the Sith being otherwise entertained elsewhere in the citadel.

Well, all of them except one, it seemed. For some reason Zak couldn't yet fathom, Darth Nemuritor kept a hologram unit in the throne room. He had no idea what possible use it could have. He brushed over it with his mind, but found nothing and began his ascent of the steps.

He was halfway up the steps before he heard the sound of movement; angel-light footsteps and the distinct whisper of shimmersilk brushing against the floor. It approached from behind, and on instinct, he whirled around to face the aggressor. His fists were up, ready to fly if it proved to be one of the maroon-clad elite guard that appeared to follow the two Sith around almost everywhere they went.

Only it wasn't.

Zak stared into a pair of hauntingly blue eyes, eyes he remembered well from his childhood and had thought he would never see again; eyes he would always know. He gasped, shocked, and stumbled backwards, almost tripping on the step behind him.

"I have been most curious to see you, Zak," the woman said, smiling slightly.

But Zak wasn't fooled for long. It took him a moment, but finally he realised that it wasn't a woman at all, but a projection from the holographic unit he'd sensed. He couldn't sense her there, and yet she had been there. That explained why he'd felt like he wasn't alone.

When the hologram saw the realisation on his face, she smiled at him. It almost melted his heart. "Ironic, isn't it?" she said softly, taking a step to match the one he'd taken a moment ago.

Zak relaxed only a little, but he knew better than to let his guard down entirely. He couldn't be sure at all that this hologram wouldn't be as loyal to the Sith as everyone and everything else in the True Sith appeared to be.

"What is?" he asked, clearing the lump from his throat after a failed attempt.

The hologram's smile remained in place as she took another step toward him. Respectfully, Zak backed away twice as many steps, the better to keep a safe distance.

"You have no reason to fear me," Milessa Arranda said before she flickered and disappeared. A second later, she flickered back to life right next to him, smiling warmly with her hair held back and styled differently to what he had seen a second ago. "I am harmless; without substance."

As if to prove her point, she reached out to stroke his cheek softly. Instead of feeling the contact, however, Zak felt the faint buzz and discomfort of the hologram's photons passing through his face. It wasn't too unpleasant, however.

"What's ironic?" Zak repeated.

"You look so much like my boy," the hologram said sadly. Zak frowned.

Holograms were essentially computer programs with photon-created images. Who in their right mind would program a hologram that could become distracted? And why on Alderaan would Darth Nemuritor made a hologram of his long-dead mother. It made absolutely no sense.

"Aside from the markings," the woman continued. She reached out again and the tips of her fingers brushed against his left cheek. He fought the shiver it caused him. "You look so much better without that garbage."

"You haven't answered my question," he reminded the hologram.

"Oh, yes, quite right," she said suddenly. Her hand dropped back to her side and she looked away, seemingly ashamed. The hologram flickered again and the image changed to one that was more recently familiar—Tash, at the age she would have been in this world had she lived.

Nemuritor had seen some sort of sick pleasure in telling Zak about the fate of his sister. Zak hated him even more because of it.

"I think it's ironic that my Zak keeps me around, considering that I most certainly serve as a constant reminder of the most painful losses in his life," holo-Tash said plainly.

"Do you have a name?" Zak asked her. For some reason, he expected she wouldn't.

"I go by many names. Tash, Milessa, Kalf, Mammon, Deevee, Brakiss." She ticked them off on fingers as she listed them. "Mostly, Jaina just calls me _'Thing'_. I prefer this form, however, as it serves as the most traumatic experience in Zak's life—the loss of the last of his family. Therefore, you may call me Tash."

"You _enjoy_ tormenting him so?" Zak had to ask. She nodded, smiling weakly.

"It was the purpose of my creation. I don't know if you are aware, but the Sith believe in a form of self sacrifice, and feed off pain and other dark emotions to fuel their power. Constructing my matrices for the purpose of tormenting him as I do is another way to increase his power. He feeds of the sorrow I bring out in him."

"So I guess that answers why he keeps you in here."

The hologram shrugged and turned to walk past him up the rest of the steps. After a few seconds watching her ascent, Zak followed. When they reached the thrones at the top, the hologram spun in front of what Zak had to guess was Darth Devess's seat and planted herself in it gracefully. "Don't tell them," holo-Tash started, "but I really do like to sit in this thing when Jaina is not around to dismantle me for it."

Zak smirked. It _did_ look comfortable—agreeably so, as a matter of fact—but he would rather suffer the slow digestion of a Sarlacc than to try it out to be sure. It was a symbol of what his other self and Jaina's other self had become. A small part within Zak feared that if he sat down in either seat, even for a moment, it would give ground to the lingering darkness within him and bring him that one small step closer to becoming the man he had seen in this world.

"I suspect that, at times, he also likes to hear my counsel," the hologram said with the air of mocking to her tone.

"Really?" Zak challenged. "I rather got the impression that the only opinions the Emperor likes to hear are his own or those of his wife."

"That's a matter of small debate," holo-Tash said, smirking. She sunk lower into the padding of the chair, though Zak recognised that it was only an illusion. "You know, I've never ever left this chamber."

"I could take you with me," Zak offered on impulse. When the hologram looked sidelong at him, wistfully, he half regretted it. It would only slow him down to spend that much time downloading her program to a portable drive to take with him. Already, he was wasting precious time that could have been spent launching away from this forsaken dust ball of a planet and making a beeline for the nearest hyperspace lane for the Core.

"A thoughtful offer," holo-Tash replied. "I wish to remain."

"Why?"

"As I said, Zak values my advice."

Zak didn't entirely buy the excuse. "What advice could you possibly give him? If he programmed you himself, there's nothing you could tell him that he wouldn't have already considered himself."

"Which is part of my purpose," the hologram said quickly. "Sometimes, all he needs is the reaffirming that _some_ of his ideas are sound."

Zak frowned.

If you are planning to escape," the hologram started, breaking Zak from thoughts of arguing her last statement, "why did you waste the time you have by coming here first?"

"I want to get into the Sith's trophy safe," Zak said. He was sure that—regardless of the hologram's intended purpose—she wouldn't sell him out to Darth Nemuritor or Darth Devess. "I wanted to retrieve my lightsaber, and those of my friends. They were confiscated when we were brought here."

"Oh, well why didn't you say so?" Holo-Tash jumped out of the marble throne at once. "Follow me!" she said cheerfully.

She led him across the throne level to a dark alcove several meters to the left of the ornate chairs. When she stopped, Zak looked around himself to see if he could spot the safe. When he found he could not, he opened his mouth to demand an explanation. The hologram gave him one before he could.

"Three paces in front of you, under the deck plate. My brother keeps all throne room systems offline in his absence. I befriended a maintenance worker that was assigned to repair my unit once and he installed a back door that allows me to reactivate myself after Zak and Jaina shut everything down. But I skipped the point: with everything else shut down, I can't open the safe for you."

"That's OK," Zak said with a challenging grin. "I think I can manage."

He reached out with his left hand, his palm down and fingers splayed slightly. Additionally, he called upon what Force powers he could reach that weren't tainted by the dark side. Within moments, a two-by-two section of solid durasteel floor plating tore loose from the perfectly-concealed hinges that held it in place. The screeching of steel against steel was horrendous, but Zak was able to manage.

He casually tossed the durasteel sheet to the side, not caring where it landed. Then he reached out with his right hand, turning his palms up and hooking his fingers until they all pointed to the high ceiling of the throne room. A large durasteel object, only slightly smaller than the two-by-two was raised. Gears ground loudly in complaint, and then a half-dozen locking mechanisms clicked into place.

It required a lot of concentration, and by the time Zak had pried the thick safe door loose, he found himself both psychically and physically exhausted from the effort.

He collapsed to his knees, bracing himself against the frame of the safe and breathing heavily as he tried to will some strength back into his shaking legs.

"He … doesn't fool around … does he?" Zak huffed, looking over his shoulder at holo-Tash, who was eyeing him with obvious awe and fascination.

"_No one_ should be able to do that!" she said in hushed tones. "Not even _Jaina_ can pull that thing free!"

"I would say … that most things … your brother does … I … I can likely undo," Zak said generally. By this, he also meant Jaina.

Though neither of the Sith would discuss what it was that had led this sinister version of Jaina Solo to the dark side of the Force, Zak had gathered on his own that she had done so out of devotion to her Zak Arranda. He reasoned that some things were cross-universal constants. And so he'd made it his top priority to try and fix that. He didn't need to specify his meaning to holo-Tash, though. It was of no real concern to her. He might have mentioned it if there was a remote possibility of saving her brother in the process, however.

"Well; after seeing that, I won't ever doubt that claim." She approached and came down to her photonic knees by his side. "Are you all right?"

"Whatever protection he had on that thing was strong," Zak said, grateful that he had the breath for it. He pulled himself unsteadily to his feet and pressed his forehead against the cool durasteel of the safe frame while. All the while, he gulped down more and more air, and waited for his strength to build some more. "It knocked the wind right out of me."

Placed as he was, he could see the contents of the safe, and was not disappointed to learn that he had been right about its contents. There were dozens of lightsabers inside across seven shelves. He wanted to take them all, but there was simply too many of them for him to carry all at once.

"I'll be right back," holo-Tash said after gazing inside herself. She vanished, and Zak waited, and took the time of her absence to examine the lightsabers he could identify.

His own lightsaber was at the front on the middle shelf. It stretched out longer than most of the others and was still in prime condition. He guessed that Darth Devess having worn it during their first encounter was merely a goading tactic. Since it hadn't worked, they had opted to lock the weapon away instead. He scooped it up and slipped the clip into the appropriate slot on his belt before turning his gaze on two lightsabers he recognised quite well.

Jacen Solo's lightsaber was side-by-side with Talesa Valara's lightsaber. In fact, _her_ lightsaber was flanked on the other side by an almost identical copy. The only difference Zak noticed was that the pommel was a little more rounded than the one from his friend's lightsaber, and that the status led was green rather than blue. Zak tucked both Talesas' lightsabers under his belt strap on the left of his hip, and Jacen's under the right. Then he turned to the others.

He saw Anakin Solo's weapon side-by-side with Mara Skywalker's on the shelf above the one his had been on. Both looked like they had _not_ just been sitting there for years, untouched. Rather, they looked as if they had been taken out occasionally and polished. A lightsaber identical to that of Darth Pravus was on the bottom shelf, a little scuffed in places but more or less in good condition. Zak left it where it was as he took Mara's and Ben's in the same hand and began to scan the rest.

The hologram did not return … at least not as Tash. Mammon Hoole was standing beside Zak when the hologram flickered back to life. As per the way Zak remembered his uncle, he was stony faced and expressionless as he looked down at him. His beard was still in perfect trim and he still wore that ridiculous thing on his head.

Zak didn't smile. Seeing his uncle brought on too many bad memories. "There's an emergency pack by the secondary exit," the hologram of the shape shifter said. "I will show you on your way out. Once emptied, there should be enough room for as many as you wish to take with you."

By now, Zak had identified and picked out fourteen different lightsabers. Other than Mara and Ben's lightsabers, he'd also grabbed Raynar Thul's, Tenel Ka Djo's, and Matilda Perisca's. It made him sad to see just how many of his friends and peers from home had been brutalised, slain, in this strange place.

Pocketing as many lightsabers as he could, and slipping the rest into his belt, Zak pulled away from the safe to what he felt was adequate distance. Then, he drew his hands together in front of him and sent a powerful wave of the Force straight into the confines of the safe. All of the remaining lightsabers shattered when the wave hit them, and the door slammed shut loudly.

"You had better get out of here, young Zak," holo-Hoole said to him, looking from him to the safe, as if silently impressed by the display of power. "I have no exact estimate for when my Zak is due to return."

"This secondary exit …" Zak started, nodding to affirm that he understood. "Does it have a direct line to the shuttle deck—to any shuttle deck?"

"This way," the hologram said as it led him down the steps and veered off to the eastern side of the chamber after reaching the bottom.

Zak followed the hologram to an especially darkened part of the room, where he was pointed to a seemingly random patch of wall.

"A security holo covers the evidence that this is actually a turbolift," holo-Hoole said matter-of-factly. "It has only two destinations: this chamber, and the Sith's private landing deck ten floors up. It should come out somewhere near one of his personal shuttles. There is almost always guaranteed to be four or five shuttles in the rack at all times."

"Thank you," Zak said. He reached out with the Force for the control mechanism, found it, and then activated it.

The hologram covering the door flashed away and the door hissed open to reveal a starkly-lit, spotlessly clean lift capsule. He reached out next to the door where holo-Hoole indicated and stripped an emergency pack from a hook by the door, then upturned it and tipped its contents onto the floor. Then he loaded in all the lightsabers he'd retrieved, except for his own, in case he found himself needing it.

Just as he reached out for the controls to input his destination, a feminine hand shot out and "touched" his wrist. He looked up to see that holo-Tash was back. "Yes?" he inquired.

"Thank _you_," she said warmly, smiling once more. Zak couldn't help but return the smile, genuinely. His own sister's smiles were infectious, he'd found, and was surprised that this world's bastardisation of him had thought to include that in the hologram's personality. "Though he programmed me with all the memories he assumed I had of what he was like when he was younger, I myself have never actually seen it. Thank you for showing me the kind of person he once was."

"The kind of person he could still be, if the fates are on my side and I play my cards right over the next few days," Zak said. Holo-Tash's eyes shot open in disbelief. "I cannot promise you anything, though."

"Of course not," she said excitedly. "But do you really think that it's possible?"

"I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Yes," holo-Tash said slowly. "What is your point beyond that?"

Zak smirked. "When was the last time your brother ever spared the life of a Jedi out of curiosity or on a whim?" he asked the hologram. There was no answer, and Zak accepted that as an affirmation that he was right. He punched in his destination and the lift doors sealed shut, separating from the strange facsimile of Tash.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

_**DES'S DINER; CORUSCANT**_

Jacen kept mostly to himself after he and his friend Talesa had been freed from their imprisonment and subsequent debriefings. His mirror self from this world had tried to make an effort to include him in what Jacen could only guess was war planning against the True Sith. But Jacen felt strongly that it wasn't his place to interfere with the events of this universe. He felt that the three of them had already interfered enough just being here, and by Zak's continued stay with the Sith for whatever reasons.

Jacen and Talesa went their separate ways for a time after their debriefing. Talesa, Jacen found out at some point, was more than happy to lend her experience and knowledge to assist the New Republic with its war efforts. Clearly, she disagreed with his stance on non-interference. Knowing there was nothing he could do to sway her to his way of thinking, Jacen let her do whatever she pleased.

He gathered, to some degree, that Talesa had perhaps only offered her assistance in a bid to try and gain access to the parallel Keyan Jace, who thus far refused to even be in the same room as her. While Jacen found that odd, he did recall that this world's Talesa Valara was now dead—likely by the hand of one of the Sith. If this world's Keyan Jace had been involved with this world's Talesa Valara, then it stood to reason that perhaps the reason he would not allow himself near Jacen's friend was because he could not bear to be reminded of the loss.

However, it was entirely possible that yet another difference about this world was that the two had never been involved, and perhaps never even met. There was no proof thus far that this world's Talesa Valara had even been a Jedi.

Jacen, meanwhile, removed himself from the excitement as much as he could. He donned nondescript civilian clothes and headed down to the mid-levels of Coruscant. There, he sat in the corners of various bars and listened, and contemplated.

He still could not quite get over the fact that, in this strange, mixed up universe, the alternative of Jaina Solo's life had led her down the path of darkness to the Sith. It was unfathomable to him in all respects that she would just abandon all that she had ever been taught, and all that she had ever learned from their parents and extended relatives. It was unthinkable that she could ever abandon them all.

But it seemed that she had done just that. He couldn't understand her reasoning behind it, and none of his family's counterparts from this universe would even discuss her save to spit her name like a curse. What was it had that driven her so far over the edge?

He knew, of course, of the tragedies the Solo and Skywalker families had endured during this atrocious war. They had at least thought to tell him that.

Luke Skywalker's _fiancé_, Mara Jade, had been murdered on Yavin 4 with another senior Jedi years ago while protecting a score of younglings. The Republic had no solid leads as to her murderer, but it was highly suspected that Darth Nemuritor—who had once been this world's Zak Arranda—had been responsible. The act had started the war with the Republic, when the Jedi had pressed them to react accordingly.

Less than a year later, the True Sith and the New Republic had come to heads on the industrial world of Mygeeto. The Republic forces had been stationed there because it hadn't been too far from the True Sith borders. But Darth Devess herself, Jacen was told, had led the Sith forces to overwhelm the fleet in orbit, bombard dozens of civil areas, and then led the ground forces to deal with the Republic forces on the planet. Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne and her apprentice, Anakin Solo, had both been lost in the battle, and the Sith had fortified the planet before pushing on.

Then came the more frightening loss. Less than a year ago, the New Republic had received a confidential tip off that the True Sith were using Mustafar as a mining and refining station. Ores would be mined and smelted there and shipped off to a quarter-dozen other Sith controlled worlds where they would be fashioned into the materials needed for star ship and base construction.

So the New Republic had decided to take away that advantage. A fleet of fifty-nine ships were dispatched under the command of Luke Skywalker, and Leia Organa Solo had been present as a diplomatic advisor, forever optimistic of a Sith surrender or compromise. But the True Sith fleet had been led by both of the Sith leaders, Nemuritor and Devess, and had outnumbered the Republic's fleet two-to-one. In the process, _Blue Diver_, the Republic's flagship on which Leia Organa Solo and Luke Skywalker had both been, had been obliterated by the Sith. Luke Skywalker only just escaped with his life, Leia had not been so fortunate.

It went a long way to explain Han Solo's perpetual hostility to those around him. The only person he seemed to be at any sort of ease with was his own son. Jacen had noticed that Han would not even meet his brother-in-law's eye.

Jacen had never truly seen his family in a time of war before. He had not known what his father and uncle had been like during the rebellion against the Empire, or their subsequent victories against the Empire Reborn and the cloned Emperor. His family hadn't known any great loss that would make his father so hostile and his uncle so withdrawn and suspicious.

But now he could see it bright as a supernova. Now he knew exactly what his family might look like if, say, he ever turned to the dark side and waged war against the Jedi. The hostility of this world's Han Solo, and the suspicious withdrawal of his Luke Skywalker was enough to deter Jacen—though it wasn't as though he'd ever considered the dark side. Now, though, he knew he never would.

A thunderous boom overhead drew Jacen away from his introspection. He raced out of the bar and looked up to see a ship zipping by overhead. The underside of the small transport was decorated with the True Sith standard in stark white.

"Oh, blaster bolts," he swore before ducking back into the bar and paying for his drink with credits given to him by his other self.

He dashed back out of the bar to the speeder lot and jumped into the speeder he'd borrowed from the Jedi Temple. After throwing it into gear and checking again to see that there was no traffic directly overhead, he shot up until he was level with the line of traffic the Sith transport was following at height and followed it.

The speeder's comm. unit alerted him to an incoming communication and he absently flicked the switch to activate it. "Yeah?"

"_Jacen, it's Talesa,_" his friend's calm voice sounded from over the comm. "_Where are you at the moment?_"

"Following what looks to be a Sith personal transport. If I was to guess, I'd say it belonged to the True Sith monarchs."

Jacen ducked around a slow-moving speeder and then hit the ascension thrusters. He shot up above the traffic lane, ignoring the alerts and red signal lights flashing at him, and then hit the accelerator until he was right on the transport's tail.

"_The ship was spotted in orbit less than five minutes ago,_" Talesa said, still sounding rather calm. Did she know something that he didn't about the incoming transport? "_Master Skywalker has concluded that, since the transport made it by the defence fleets in the system without being spotted, it must be fitted with a stygium powered cloaking device._"

"What's her heading?" Jacen kept his eyes on the transport as he followed it. It wasn't lost on him that none of the blaster cannons or missile ports on the transport had locked onto him, or any of the other speeders.

"_Straight for the Jedi Temple. Coruscant Security has been alerted and they should be intercepting the ship soon._" Jacen frowned. Why was this ship headed for the Jedi Temple? And how in all the galaxy had the occupants acquired stygium crystals to power their cloaking device? "_The CSF will escort it to the Temple, so stick with it until then and don't let it out of your sight._"

"Right," Jacen said, "like I need to be told that."

"_I'll let the CSF know that you're trailing the shuttle, so they don't try and lock you down._"


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

_**JEDI TEMPLE; CORUSCANT**_

Jacen stood straight as a bolt on the edge of the landing platform at the Jedi Temple. The Sith transport had landed minutes ago; it's engines now cycling down and its hull ticking as the heat of atmospheric entry bled away.

The same reception that had greeted him, Talesa and Alitha to Coruscant only days prior was in place yet again. However, he noticed that this time there were twice as many Jedi and even more CSF units around. Everyone was armed, including Jacen and Talesa who both clutched to borrowed lightsabers as they stood ahead of the left flank of CSF guards.

Jacen wished he had his own lightsaber with him. The feel of the bulky loaner in his hand reminded him of the evacuation of Yavin 4 two years ago when his had been left in his quarters prior to the Imperium's attack and he'd been forced to borrow a spare in order to go with Jaina to the surface to recon. That lightsaber, too, had been bulky and uncomfortable in his grip.

He reached out to the transport with the Force, reaching inside to touch the mind of the pilot and discern their identity. He could feel the psychic touches of at least a dozen other Jedi around him doing the same, including his friend Talesa. The transport was occupied by a single person, however. They were at present seated behind the controls in the cockpit completing the ship's shutdown cycle before making their departure.

The psychic feel of that person's mind was someone he knew fairly well, and it brought the touch of a smile to his lips. He sensed Talesa's relief beside him, but in contrast, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker tensed, and Jacen felt that unfamiliar rage and suspicion within him again.

A handful of minutes later, when the boarding ramp touched down on the stone pad, the single occupant departed from the transport's depths.

Blaster fire started immediately from every single CSF agent present. They hadn't even waited for the order, not a single one of them. It was as if the knowledge of who the intruder was, was all the signal that they needed. Bolts of ionised energy converged on the foot of the ramp, where the dark-cloaked young man stood.

An instant before he was gunned down, the newcomer flicked his wrist and twin golden blades of plasma ignited from the metal object in his hands. Jacen watched as Zak Arranda—_not_ Darth Nemuritor—swatted all of the incoming fire away from himself in such a manner that not a single bolt strayed into an innocent.

"STOP!" Jacen called out just as his other self and Luke Skywalker took a step toward Zak with their lightsabers ready to strike.

Jace Solo struck out first, his lightsaber clashing against the gold of Zak's and almost driving Jacen's friend back a step. Luke circled around to Zak's left and lashed out at him from that side. Zak blocked the blow; hesitant, but getting to it with plenty of room left to spare.

Someone grabbed Jacen by the arm and he turned to see that it was Jace Solo's father, Han Solo. The older man had him fixed with a look that seemed to convey that he had caught a traitor in their midst. Jacen wrenched his arm free and dashed across the landing platform to break the duellists apart. Talesa got there a second ahead of him, and the violet of her borrowed lightsaber parried Luke Skywalker's blade off to the side with ease before she kicked out at his rump and sent him spinning away.

Jacen slipped in between Zak and Jace, aiming a good kick to his other self's left leg. He missed, as Jace anticipated the strike and dodged to the right to avoid it. His blade came up, and Jacen swatted it aside before whirling his borrowed weapon around in an exaggerated movement. He hoped Jace noticed the flaw in that move and hesitated.

He did.

Jacen's gaze darted between Jace Solo and Luke Skywalker, trying to ascertain their next movies. He was sure that they would be confused as to why Jacen and Talesa were defending Zak.

"What's going on?" Skywalker demanded. "Get out of the way!"

"He isn't the Sith!" Talesa said urgently.

"Kill them, Luke!" Han snarled, his blaster aimed squarely at Jacen's heart. "Kill them all and be done with it! We can end this kriffing war here and now!"

"Look at him," Jacen challenged his counterpart. He stepped aside and shut down his lightsaber to allow Jace the chance to truly _see_ Zak.

Zak shut down his own lightsaber and held his arms out to his sides to show that he had no hostile intentions. Jace scrutinised him for a few minutes, both mentally and psychically, before he too shut down his lightsaber and belted it. Though he didn't smile, he did turn to his uncle and nod to convey that he believed that Zak was harmless.

Jacen released a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding, and turned to Luke Skywalker.

"If he isn't the Sith," Skywalker started, "then I suppose that he's the friend you spoke of earlier? The same friend that remained behind with the Sith to distract them from your escape?"

"As well as other things," Zak muttered.

"He is," Jacen said with a nod. He ignored Zak's remark, and filed it away to ask him about it later.

"I come bearing gifts, as a matter of fact," Zak stated. "Just give me a second …"

And with that, he ducked back up the ramp and out of sight. When he returned a moment later, he tossed a linen sack across to Luke Skywalker, who caught it in both arms. The senior Jedi eyed the sack suspiciously while Jacen and Talesa were handed their own lightsabers from their friend, and then Jacen watched as Skywalker opened it and peered inside.

Instantly, the suspicion melted away from the Jedi's features, and his shoulders fell heavy. Jacen could feel only pain in his thoughts.

He dropped a hand into the sack, and when it came back out, it was clutched tightly around the cylindrical shaft of a lightsaber Jacen knew all-too-well. After all, he'd been there every step of its construction when Anakin had built it a few years ago.

"Anakin," Luke whispered, and clutched the lightsaber to his chest before dropping it back into the bag. "Kylia …" he said more loudly. Kylia Okras approached him, eyeing Zak curiously. "I want all of these identified. We can update our MIA records, thanks to this young man's courage. Then see about carbon freezing them for the Hall of Heroes."

"Grand Master," Kylia started, "are you sure? They are in good condition, and may serve many of our padawans well."

"I'm sure, Kylia. The younglings must learn to construct their own."

"As you wish." She took the sack by the neck and carried it away, disappearing behind the crowd.

* * *

Hours later, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo were in the Jedi strategic planning chamber with Jacen Solo and his counterpart from this universe, Jace Solo, and his friends Talesa and Zak.

Zak had already regaled them with the tale of his escape. Apparently, and both Jacens found it supremely interesting, Darth Nemuritor kept a hologram in his throne room that could emulate several people from his life: his sister, uncle, parents to name a few.

Jacen had actually been expecting to hear that Zak had used his powerful abilities to blast his way into the shuttle hangar before stealing the transport. Instead, he heard a tale of how Zak had snuck out of his cell and into the throne room while the Sith were preoccupied with their armies. He heard how Zak had conversed with the holographic entity and stolen more than a dozen lightsabers he recognised, with the thinking that perhaps the Jedi would want them for closure. He'd been right, as it turned out. He'd then found a dark cloak with the Sith emblem threaded into the back and fooled a deck officer into thinking that _he_ was his Sith counterpart.

A simple mind trick and a disguise were a far cry from Jacen's expectations, though he was by no means disappointed. In fact, the way Zak _had_ gone about it led him to believe that despite his brief walk along the dark side himself, he was tempered by much of the wisdom that Jacen's uncle, Luke, tried his best to bestow unto all of his pupils. It also hinted at the level of restrain that Zak was capable of.

But now, Zak seemed to be telling them a story that both Jacens found it hard to believe. A story that Han Solo insisted could only be lies and insanity. A story that, despite his own reservations, even Luke Skywalker seemed to draw some home from. Jacen guessed that despite what Darth Devess had done to her own family in the course of this war, there was still room for optimism regarding her fate as far as Luke was concerned.

"I'm not so sure that's such a great idea, Zak," Jacen said before Jace could voice his reservations. "For starters … how do you even know that it's the truth? The Sith could be manipulating what information you discover."

"I took that into account," Zak said. "But I think it makes sense. I know it would be folly to consider that our Jaina is anything like the Sith one from this timeline"—that was the first time Jacen had heard that description for this universe, and he liked it better—"but I can't understand how _any_ Jaina Solo would just willingly join the Sith, not when there was an alternative."

"You have no idea what she's been through, Zak." This was from Luke, and Jacen turned to face him as he spoke further. "You have no idea what acts her life has driven her to."

"Then why don't you tell us?" Jacen inquired.

There was an awkward pause then, as Luke exchanged looks with both of his relatives. Jacen sensed thoughts running through all of their minds, and a brief softening of the hostility within Han Solo. It was coloured by pain now, by a deep sense of loss and failure.

"Twenty-one years ago," Luke started slowly, turning back to face Jacen. "That's how long ago this all started. A former pupil of mine—a failure, by all respects—by the name of Brakiss kidnapped Jacen and Jaina from their home on Corellia while their parents were away on business.

"Han and Leia pleaded with the Senate to help get them back. The Jedi made a few requests as well, but it was ultimately Leia's heartbreak that drove them. They would have done anything for her. They'd all loved her as a Chief of State, and would gladly have gone to extraordinary lengths to help her.

"We eventually tracked down one of Brakiss's hideouts, on Thyferra. We thought he'd been keeping the twins together. We found out how wrong we were. Jacen was rescued, but there was no sign of Jaina. Ackbar decided to send a team of slicers to hack into the computer systems to try and find out where she was being held, but it seemed Brakiss had made a few connections I was unaware of. Ysanne Isard brought a fleet of Imperial ships to Thyferra to destroy the base. They were successful, and Jaina was never found.

"In fact, she was never seen or heard from again until this war started. She murdered Mara Jade …" Luke's throat caught, and he stopped to take a breath to steady himself. "A woman I'd grown to care about very much. Jaina then went on to kill all the younglings that Mara Jade was charged with teaching. Then her and her Sith betrothed began their campaign against the Republic. To this day, I remain unsure if this war is their doing, or if Brakiss is pulling the strings."

"Brakiss is dead," Zak replied with a frown. "His lightsaber was one of Darth Nemuritor's trophies. Judging by placement, I would guess he was an early victim."

"Then it is as I feared," Jace said with a sigh. "Jaina really _is_ behind this war."

"She isn't Jaina anymore, son," Han Solo growled. "She stopped being Jaina when she murdered all those children!"

"I still believe my plan has merit," Zak said foolishly. Jacen frowned at him, though he said not a word. "If there is _any_ humanity left in her, she could be made to see reason if her family put in the effort. If not, her capture could at least force the True Sith to surrender and lay down arms."

"Her lover would never allow her to be captured. He would raze every world in the galaxy to get her back."

"What if he was incapacitated too?" Jacen said, seeing where Zak was going with his idea. "Take them both. Their Dark Disciples will be too busy fighting amongst themselves over the power vacuum that none of them would be able to lead an effort against the Republic to recapture their masters."

"Why don't we just kill the two of them?" Han growled.

"Should I reiterate, dear brother," Luke Skywalker started, "that no Jedi has ever faced the two of them and ever lived to brag about it."

"Zak has," Jacen pointed out.

"Only because Nemuritor is, for some reason, fascinated by his presence," Jace countered. "Curious, perhaps, about what might have been his life had he taken another part. Maybe he's just analysing potential character flaws within himself. Maybe he just sees someone he can manipulate into joining the Disciples."

"I don't think he'd be foolish enough to assume that someone who is, for all intents and purposes, a mirror of himself would be that easy to manipulate or that easy to tempt."

"He knows that I've had my own brush with the dark side," Zak said while there was a second in the debate for him to get in a response. Jacen turned to him again, and so did everyone else, scrutinising him. "He and his wife have been … I don't know—grooming me? They've been trying to get me interested in their state of affairs, telling me stories of their goals and how they came to be, to a degree."

"Not that grooming you will do much good," Talesa replied with a confident huff. Jacen nodded to signal that he agreed with her assessment.

Unlike his friend, however, he had actually seen Zak at his worst; not as Darth Nemuritor from this timeline, but as the self-proclaimed Lord of the Sith, Darth Malonic. That had been almost immediately after his return from Coruscant after escaping from the Brakiss they knew.

He had been brutal and powerful, and nigh unstoppable. He had attacked Jedi Master and youngling alike, with little regard to age or experience. He'd shown no regard for the lives of those he attacked, save Jaina who he'd seemed to think would side with him when she realised the folly of fighting him.

But since those unfortunate events, Jacen had also seen how cowed Zak was by them. He regained his memories little by little, and every new memory only drove that part of him that detested himself for what he had unwittingly done. Jacen felt for him, he really did. The dark side had no business bothering such a good person.

"I can at least distract the two of them long enough for someone else to do the actual capturing or incapacitating," Zak added, hoping it would draw some support from the others. Jacen still didn't like the idea. He told Zak as much. "I know you don't," his friend said, "but who better to fight against Nemuritor than myself? I know his style, and I know how he thinks."

"He's a lot more powerful than you," Talesa pointed out before Jacen could.

"Not in all areas," Zak said with a wink.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

_I had to physically restrain myself from running through the corridors. I was—well, not excited as such, but anxious. For months, I'd pored over the holo logs of the attack by forces unknown that had destroyed the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4, with all of its inhabitants. So much damage had been dealt to the recorders that it had taken so long to clear up the image to find out as much as I had._

_ And what I _had_ found out made me sick to the stomach. I wasn't keen on relaying this news to my sister or her husband, my best friend. But neither could I just keep it from them. It was far too important to us all to just ignore and hope it solved itself._

_ Finally, after so many years, we had a lead!_

_ But during those months, I'd also been examining other records; records of battles on planets such as Trandosha and Kashyyyk; the Battle of Bastion which had seen the final end of the Empire—a battle that had _not_ been fought by the Republic._

_ We had a new threat out there. It was nameless, but powerful. Already, a dozen systems had withdrawn their membership within the New Republic to join this new and unseen force. Already, many battles had been fought, but war had been declared only recently. And already, more and more systems pleaded for help as they came under attack … and were silenced._

_ The Force would not help me. The Force was blind to what was happening. I had heard of nothing like this happening since the Clone Wars. Ben Kenobi's lingering spirit had once told me of those days, the days when the shroud of the dark side was so thick it had blinded the Jedi to the threat posed from within the Republic itself: Palpatine. And now I was getting a feel of what that blindness had been like for those time-gone Jedi._

_ Everywhere this unseen force spread, every system it touched, was effectively blotted out from my senses, from the entire Order even._

_ It frustrated me. Before open war, fleets had been dispatched to ascertain the cause._

_ None had returned._

_ But I now had more information on _that_. This meeting would be twofold. I would be able to expose the leaders of what had been identified as the True Sith. But I did not relish that thought. It had actually caused me a great deal of heartache to see them, to see the atrocities they were committing against the peaceful worlds of the Republic._

_ I waved my hand absently as I approached the strategic command chamber and the doors slid apart to admit me._

_ Within, a small party had gathered. My sister, Leia Organa Solo, stood beside her husband, Han Solo. They were hand in hand as they glanced at the holo representation of the galaxy above the table at around eye-height._

_ Ackbar of Mon Calamari stood opposite them in the crisp, white uniform befitting his rank of Supreme Commander of the New Republic's military. Adjacent to Ackbar was Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya, a ferocious Bothan whose disdain for the Jedi had earned him the enmity of many within the Republic. However, in these hard times, it seemed that Fey'lya was more sympathetic to his domestic enemies than was usual._

_ I closed the door, and all eyes turned to me. I felt Leia's gentle probes against my thoughts and shielded them from her, but the rest of them just looked at me curiously._

_ "Hey Luke, buddy," Han said with a smile. I winced, knowing that soon that smile would turn into such a scowl that had never been seen before. It was worse that I would, in part, be the cause of that._

_ "Good evening, Han," I said softly. I moved to stand between Ackbar and Fey'lya. It wasn't lost on me that the Bothan took a surreptitious step away from me. "What are we looking at?"_

_ It was Ackbar who answered, in his typical quick and gravelly voice. "Our enemy has pulled away from their assaults on the Naboo system," he said, his bulbous eyes half closed in that certain way that meant he was deep in thought. "They've pulled all their forces in that sector back to the edge of Hutt space and are fortifying defences both there and at Kashyyyk."_

_ "Was there any reason for that?" I asked, surprised. The True Sith had never retreated from a battle before. I was instantly suspicious._

_ "Clearly, they are afraid of our superior military might," Fey'lya said with a toothy grin. "They did not want their fleets destroyed trying to take another system from the Republic, and so they saved those fleets from certain doom by pulling them back."_

_ Ackbar made what was undoubtedly a Mon Calamari variation of a snort of derision. I tried not to smile. "Unlikely, Chief of State. It is more likely, I believe, that it's a trap."_

_ "On what grounds?" the Bothan challenged._

_ "Look for yourself," Ackbar responded. He indicated a section of the map near Naboo and the map panned in and refocused. "Naboo is by no means on the enemy's path to the Core. In fact, it's in the opposite direction. They would only attack that system if they wanted to annoy us or if they wanted to pull our fleets away from a more important sector."_

_ "Such as?" I asked. I already knew the answer, but I wanted it to be driven home for Fey'lya's sake._

_ "Such as Bothan space," Ackbar said on cue. Predictably, Fey'lya hissed at them, and then shifted his gaze back to the admiral. "They navigated _around_ Bothan space to get to Naboo, Chief of State. Which means they want the Bothan sector intact. What better way to do that than to draw the defence forces there away and then take the system unchallenged. Then they could set up gravity well generators on the very edge of the sector in anticipation of retaliation and engage our fleets far from Bothawui itself."_

_ I frowned and encircled a section of the holomap with his finger. The indicated section was highlighted and expanded in a second, smaller hologram a little above the main. "That's where they would draw us in," I said._

_ "But if the aim was to pull our forces back to Naboo," Fey'lya started, "then why pull out now before we even deploy?"_

_ I nodded. It was a fair point, though I was surprised it had come from the Bothan—a man with practically no military experience or foresight. But when I looked to the Mon Cal, I could tell that he had a likely scenario already considered._

_ "Admiral?" I said invitingly._

_ "Thank you, Master Jedi," Ackbar said. He blinked and looked straight at the Chief of State. "Supply lines," he continued._

_ "Supply lines? What supply lines?"_

_ "Exactly," the admiral replied with what passed for a Mon Calamari as a smile. "The enemy had to go _around_ Bothawui to get to Naboo, which means that that had no supply route to their forces _at_ Naboo. An indirect route like the one their assault fleet took would be pointless as the supplies would arrive too late, and a direct route would have to pass through Bothan space, which would be unwise."_

_ "Very unwise," Fey'lya purred._

_ I nodded as they all took that in and I waved my hand at the hologram to collapse the image altogether. "If only we were able to determine who the True Sith leadership was. If it's someone we'd know of we might at least have a chance at _attempting_ to work out their frame of thinking." This came from my sister._

_ Unfortunately, that presented me with my cue, and I cleared my throat and gently laid a pair of holochips down on the surface of the table nearer to Han. "I think I may be of some assistance in that regard," I said in a small voice._

_ "What's this?" Fey'lya demanded, pointing to the two small chips as Han Solo picked one up and held it close to his eye to examine it._

_ "For the past few months, Chief Fey'lya," I started, mustering up my diplomatic mannerisms, "I have been investigating claims from some of the systems that we have lost that the Sith themselves are leading their armies at a lot of these battles from the front lines. We have recordings captured from Kashyyyk and Trandosha, as well as the former Remnant capitol of Bastion, and the Jedi facility on Yavin Four._

_ "My hope was that in examining these recordings, I would be able to determine exactly who it was that had mustered these armies. I'm afraid I have done just that. And the news is of a nature that some in this room would be greatly disturbed by it. I myself felt sickened by my discovery, and I will not hide that fact." I nodded to Han. "So I warn you—Leia, Han—if you're not ready to hear what I have to show you, I would ask you to leave the chamber right now and I will by no means judge you by it."_

_ "I will stay," Leia said with a bob of the head. Her husband clutched her hand tightly and nodded to signal that he too would stay._

_ "Then, Han, if you wouldn't mind …" I gestured to the holochip in his hand and he inserted it into the slot in front of him._

_ The projectors sprang back to life and a new image flickered into substance above the table. _

_ Troopers armoured in black material fought against the contrasting white of Imperial stormtroopers. Imperial officers scattered amongst their numbers fought with their soldiers, firing madly into the advancing wall of black that approached them within Bastion's capital. Rockets and artillery arced over heads from both armies and slammed into the ground, exploding and killing all within the blast radius. Imperial armoured walkers held the rear lines, firing long range blaster cannons while scout walkers took up positions flanking the larger walkers or out amongst the Imperial defence lines._

_ The image refocussed, panned in closer until the forward lines of the advancing wall of black were visible._

_ At the head of those lines was a figure in black robes, wielding an activated lightsaber that swung by his side as he charged ahead of his own armies._

_ "Forward it to time index eight-one-Alpha-two-nine," I instructed my brother-in-law. He did just that, and the image shifted and changed again to show more devastation._

_ Many troopers from both sides were dead, their armour filled with smoking holes, or their bodies blown apart by artillery or heavy blaster fire from the walkers. But that black-robed figure with the lightsaber was still alive, and still fighting strong. Suddenly, an aged Imperial officer stood up from behind a stack of fallen stormtroopers._

_ When I'd first seen the recordings, I'd recognised the man right away. It was Gilad Pallaeon. Once the right-hand man to Grand Admiral Thrawn during the Remnant's first campaign against the Republic five years after the death of the Emperor, Pallaeon now _led_ the Remnant with the rank of Grand Admiral. He was the ruling head of the Moff Council, and had personally sued for peace with the Republic, signing the treaty himself with Chief of State Gavrisom some years ago._

_ Pallaeon fired a heavy blaster pistol at the oncoming Sith repeatedly, but not a single shot landed as he'd intended._

_ The Sith parried and deflected each bolt of energy without even glancing at who had fired at him while he struck down more and more Imperial troopers. Then he turned to face Pallaeon._

_ I hit the controls in front of me and the image froze._

_ "No kriffing way!" Han Solo breathed. Leia frowned and looked to him questioningly._

_ I saw the recognition pass over Han's face as he examined the image as closely as he could. He muttered curses to himself. I couldn't fault him his reaction. I'd had one very similar._

_ "Who is it?" Leia asked._

_ "That young man," I started, taking a breath, "is someone we all knew from our days in the Rebellion." When I saw the confusion on my sister's face, I continued. "Do you remember D'vouran?" I asked._

_ "No!" she breathed when it finally dawned on her._

_ Fey'lya and Ackbar scrutinised the frozen hologram of Zak Arranda before them. He was much different to the boy we'd known from so long ago. There was a rage about him now, a hatred that was seeded so deeply it twisted his features. When we'd known the Arrandas—however briefly—I had never suspected that he would have shown any aptitude with the Force. His sister, sure, had the potential to be powerful, but Zak hadn't even shown an interest._

_ So to see him now depicted in this hologram using the Force liberally and cutting down dozens, hundreds, with a lightsaber … I was shocked._

_ "Who is it?" Fey'lya asked._

_ "His name is Zak Arranda," I replied. I heaved a sigh. "He's an Alderaan survivor. Leia, Han and I first ran across both he and his sister during an information gathering mission for the Rebellion. By all respects at that time, he was a naive, though inventive individual. Of this, I am genuinely shocked."_

_ "But that boy was barely twelve when we knew him," Han pointed out. "He doesn't look like he's gotten much older since then. Maybe his twenties, but I'd wager he's no older than that."_

_ "The Force can extend life," I reminded him. "Though, typically, not in a Sith, it's not impossible for even them. We saw an example of that with Palpatine who was at least more than two centuries in age before his death. The effects of the Force slowing the aging process don't usually become evident until around forty or fifty years, however, so this has to be something completely different."_

_ "Like what?"_

_ I shrugged. "Carbon freezing? I don't exactly know."_

_ "What of his sister?" Leia asked, genuinely interested. "Are you saying that he and his sister are responsible for that army?"_

_ "Unfortunately, I must say no. It's a lot more serious than that." I indicated the second holochip and Han ejected the first with the push of a button before slipping the second one into the slot and waiting for its images to be loaded into the projectors._

_ I watched the images flicker to life, replaying my Mara's final moments before me once more. She fought gallantly against a female foe in the Grand Audience Chamber. Inevitably, however, she lost whatever advantage she'd had, and the perpetrator's lightsaber cut her down without hesitation._

_ Leia gasped in shock that I'd have even shown them that much. Then the woman in the image whirled around in the direction of the recording device. Her hair settled around her shoulders to reveal her face in all of its marred beauty, and Han Solo froze the image again and pointed._

_ "That is _not_ Zak Arranda's sister!" he raged. "That …" He trailed off._

_ I could see the heartbreak hit him. Tears welled up in his eyes as he instantly recognised the woman from the holo image. Leia took a little longer to make the connection, and when she did, she gave out a little cry of despair that tore at my heart. I wanted to go to her and offer her my support, but I couldn't show that sentiment now. Han squeezed her hand a little tighter, fighting back his emotions._

_ "That young lady does look somewhat familiar," Ackbar said, his eyes half-closed again. "Was she once a Jedi, and has since … how do you say it—crossed to the dark side?"_

_ "She never had the chance to be a Jedi," I whispered as my sister began to silently cry._

_ Han took her in his arms, excused them both, and led her out of the room. I heard her cry out again just before the door closed, and I looked down at the table in shame._

_ I couldn't believe I'd just done that to her. What kind of a monster did that make me?_

_ "Who is she, then?" Fey'lya demanded. He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned._

_ "The reason she looks so familiar to you, Admiral," I said, ignoring the Bothan's attitude, "is because you have spent so much time around her twin brother, teaching him the ways of the military in case the Jedi are ever called to the Republic's aide."_

_ "Are you telling me," Fey'lya started as Ackbar opened his mouth to reply, "that that woman is Jaina Solo?"_

_ "Yes."_

_ The three of us stood there in silence, taking in the information. I read them both. There was only surprise, sympathy in Ackbar's mind. He was thinking of paying the proper respects to his protégé, after his parents had told him first, of course._

_ But there was some sort of silent pride in Fey'lya's thoughts. It seemed to me as though he was restraining the urge to gloat. Jaina had come from the Skywalker family through her mother, after all, and Anakin Skywalker represented to Fey'lya all that was wrong about the Jedi._

_ "Your thoughts betray you, Chief Fey'lya," I said disapprovingly. "Jaina never had the chance the rest of her family had. If not for her kidnapping, she would have grown up with all the morals of the rest of the family. You can't blame the Jedi for what she's become!"_

_ "Watch me." And then he stormed out._


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Zak returned to Korriban three days later, standing tall as he left the standard Lambda-class shuttle the Republic had given him—Zak had left Darth Nemuritor's shuttle behind as a gift to the Jedi. The first thing he did when the dark-clad shock troopers swarmed around him was demand to see the Sith. The second had been to hand over his lightsaber and put his hands behind his head.

Being arrested wasn't surprising. He knew his Sith counterpart would be irritated, enraged even, that Zak had escaped with half of his trophies. What _did_ surprise him was that, hours after being thrown back into his cell, the lady Lumiya and one of her Disciple companions came for him. They said nothing of where they were taking him when they had awoken him, but Zak hadn't needed the Force or their answers to find out. There was only one place they would take him: the throne room.

But something wasn't quite right. The walls lining the corridors weren't made of stone or ferrocrete like he'd expected of the Sith's enclave. Instead, they were comprised of thick durasteel and other metal plates, all overlaying—

"Are we on a ship?" he asked Lumiya when comprehension sunk in. All he got by way of response was a rough shove in the back.

He stumbled forward, picked up his stride again, and continued on.

He figured that they must have moved him during those brief hours that he'd been asleep. Oddly enough, it should have woken him. He'd long accepted his fate as a moderate-light sleeper, so he found it irregular that he hadn't noticed being moved from Korriban to whatever ship he was on now.

They approached a lift and Lumiya lengthened her stride and slipped around Zak to hit the summons control by hand. By the time Zak and the other darksider reached the lift, it had arrived and was open, waiting for them.

When they'd all stepped into the lift, Lumiya slapped the control pad inside in what looked to be a random manner, but which didn't fool Zak as blind precision. He found himself reminded of the last time he'd made a similar trip; back on Korriban after Lumiya had incapacitated him and dragged him and his friends back to the True Sith capital world.

How long had it been since then; a week, two weeks maybe? He'd been escorted to see the Sith then, too. Only then, he hadn't known their identities. In truth, he hadn't even known he was being taken to see them, and hadn't known until seeing them that they were Sith.

In hindsight, however, he suspected that Alitha had known about the Sith, their identities. The way she had looked at him in their cell led evidence to that. She'd said she knew who he was "_trying_" to be. That should have been a galactic hint, but Zak hadn't been shrewd enough to take it.

Movement to his left drew his attention and he saw Lumiya shifting to look away from him. Unexpectedly, he found himself wondering what his chances would be like if he tried to take her by surprise. He didn't like the odds; they were in a confined space, and she had backup. But he figured that if he was quick enough, he might just take her lightwhip from her before either she or her companion reacted.

But then what? Dismember himself, out of sheer ignorance of how the weapon worked in comparison to the simplicity of a lightsaber? One wrong flick of the wrist, and he'd take his own head off instead of the darksiders' heads.

It was that consideration, and the memory of Lumiya severing his leg with that weapon back on the empty Cab'uL Tuar, that put him off those thoughts immediately. One week or two—the shock of having lost the leg and then having it reattached by whatever surgical technicians the True Sith employed was too fresh. He didn't particularly want to be put through that again with the other leg, or one of his arms.

Lumiya's companion shifted on Zak's other side and touched the control pad a split second after the lift stopped. The doors parted with a hiss and together, the two of them shoved Zak forward.

"I'll be a son of a …" He let the comment die and looked over his shoulder to see the lift had closed again and taken Lumiya and the other Disciple away from the chamber.

Zak turned on the spot, looking around the vast chamber to examine it. He noticed at once that, though the steady stream of white and blue through the massive transparisteel viewport gave away that they were on a ship in hyperspace, the room he was in now was exactly like the Sith's throne room on Korriban.

"Do you like it?" his own voice called to him from high across the chamber.

Zak directed his gaze down from the ceiling and saw that the Sith were both seated their marble thrones atop the stairs. Neither of them looked particularly happy to see him; not even Darth Nemuritor, who usually took his presence with a sort of guarded curiosity. Now, he just looked furious, hostile … _dangerous_.

"Not really," Zak said, shrugging indifference.

"You have a lot of nerve returning to Korriban and demanding to see me," Nemuritor hissed, pushing himself up from his throne.

Zak shrugged again and stopped at the midpoint of the stairway. "Your Republic allies didn't prove to be as interesting, then, I suppose?" the Dark Lady said mockingly. Zak didn't rise to the bait, but he _could_ tell from the identical smiles on their faces that both of them thought that her comment had been humorous.

Zak chanced another look around the spacious throne room. He noticed that while the pillars and ornamental areas replicated those from the throne room on Korriban, they were all made of durasteel, rather than polished marble and stone.

A metallic glint drew his attention back to the Sith couple, and he fought to contain his gratitude at seeing that his lightsaber was once more proudly displayed. It rested securely on the armrest of the Emperor's throne, wedged between the raised point and a control pad. It was as if it had been put there deliberately to taunt him, to challenge him, to let him know that they held his power away from him and that he had nothing over them.

They were wrong, but he didn't bother to correct them; not yet.

"You may wish to brace yourself against something," Nemuritor said suddenly, seating himself once more. Zak was too preoccupied coming up with a response that he _didn't_ brace himself in time. The ship suddenly decelerated from light speed and he stumbled forward a couple of steps.

He fell forward, and braced himself on the stairs in front of him with his hands to prevent his face making the collision. He held himself in that position for a few moments as the ship's sub-light engines kicked in and it started to move again.

"Where are we?" he asked as he pushed himself back to his feet.

"Why don't you come and take a look for yourself?" Devess said, still smiling down at him. Zak eyed her suspiciously as she swivelled her throne around and swept her hand toward the viewport invitingly.

He shot another look at his lightsaber before taking the Sith up on the invitation. He stepped up to the side of Devess's throne and looked out through the massive viewport to see exactly why the two Sith were so pleased.

"I really must thank you," Nemuritor said softly, "for giving us the means to crush the Republic once and for all."

Zak felt a tiny stab of terror try to gain a hold of his insides. But he couldn't let it find purchase. He had expected this, actually. In fact, he had even _planned _for it. But still, seeing so many of the True Sith's capital ships moving into assault formations did nothing for his nerves.

A part of him wanted to spin in place and reach for his lightsaber; strike down both of the Sith, or die trying, to distract them from their planned assault on the Galactic Capital so far away, yet within naked sight. But it was rash, hasty, ill-thought. Alone, his Sith counterpart was already his superior in the ways of the Force. It was all Zak could do to keep him out of his head. But together, with his Sith wife by his side, it would be a miracle if Zak survived the encounter.

He would only reach for his lightsaber if they left him no other choice. He could only fight them when he knew they were about to try and kill him.

Again, Zak graced the couple with an indifferent shrug. "Do not try to hide your fear from me," Nemuritor snarled. "I can feel it boiling within you, threatening to break the surface."

"I know about the tracer link you had installed on that shuttle, Your Highness," Zak said plainly. "I knew you would use it to find a way to penetrate into Coruscant space and bypass the outer defences." He didn't even bother to deny the Sith's statement about his fear. There was no point to lying when he knew they'd sense it.

"And yet you did nothing to prevent this?" Devess started, disbelief colouring her words. "Nor did you take measures to ensure that the Republic would be ready for us?"

"This is not my universe," Zak said. "Why would I seek to interfere in the events that take place here, not knowing how, if at all, they would affect my own home? If there is some sort of balance to existence, one could conceivably argue that helping the Republic here finish you off would result in the Republic I know being destroyed."

"Wisdom far beyond your years," Devess said. She didn't believe him. But Zak wasn't surprised by that. Belief required trust, and trust was not a trait of the Sith, as a rule of survival.

"Belief isn't a prerequisite of the truth," Zak said smartly.

"Cheek isn't a prerequisite of your survival!"

Zak didn't even bother to reply to the Sith's rebuttal. He continued to gaze out at the planet in the distance as it grew larger and larger with the approach of the Sith fleet. At some point, Zak was aware of obstructions between them and Coruscant—the Republic fleet, he guessed.

The fleet that the Sith had assembled really looked like a hybridisation of ships he knew with designs he didn't. They were bulky and large with rounded ends and sharp points. The command modules were located as far to the rear as was serviceable, jutting down below the ship, rather than above it. Fins extended for dozens of meters above and to the sides of the main hull. But the ships themselves looked like they were partly organic mixed with Imperial designs likely stolen from the True Sith's conquest and destruction of the Hutts and the Imperials.

Every ship in the fleet had a pair of large domes on the topside, each housing the gravity well generator and cloaking equipment needed. Every ship was covered from stern to bow in ion cannon and laser batteries, missile ports and proton torpedo launchers, and banks upon banks of turbolasers in between.

He frowned.

Of course a future Sith Empire ruled by a pair of merciless Sith Lords would have made sure that their fleet was so dangerously armed. They would need power like that to destroy their enemies, and to keep their conquests and subordinates in line.

But, he thought to himself grimly, if they were so well armed, how was it that the New Republic had survived the war for so long. What gave them enough edge to deter the Sith forces, if not completely, at least partially?

He shot an uncertain glance over at his Sith counterpart, who was merely gazing through the viewport with a kind of … gleeful anticipation, it looked to Zak. It was as if he had been waiting for this moment for so long that he couldn't quite believe that it was actually happening.

"If only I could destroy the planet in its entirety and end this war right here and now," Nemuritor said with a wistful sigh. Zak hated his callousness, and found himself again fighting the urge to snatch up his lightsaber. "Coruscant is such an insignificant, troublesome planet; the seat of power for so many corrupt and failed governments over the millennia."

"Then why don't you destroy it?"

Nemuritor waved a hand absently over what Zak realised was a holographic pad on the end of the left armrest of his throne. It hummed to life and an image shimmered and took form mere inches above the plate. "This is the ship we are on," the Sith said.

Zak recognised it.

Back home, it had been called _Eclipse_. It was an apt name, since it dwarfed standard Republic and Imperial ships by kilometres. It had been constructed in secret at the Kuat shipyards during the civil war, possibly since even before then. It was said to have been Palpatine's personal flagship. It had indeed served in such a manner seven years after the defeat of the Empire at Endor when Palpatine's clone had taken charge of what was left of the Empire and formed it into the Empire Reborn.

Zak knew of the story mainly because it was a one that haunted Luke Skywalker the most. He remembered the gaunt look on Skywalker's face when he recounted how it had taken him _and_ his father to defeat the Emperor the first time around, and how he had been more or less alone against the clone. He had willingly taken a position as the clone's darksider apprentice in order to get close to him and kill him.

It wasn't an experience he was proud of.

The _Eclipse_ was easily more than fifteen times the length of a standard Imperial II Star Destroyer; its hull was adorned with weaponry of all sorts, including backup power and shield generators, gravity well projectors and sensor cloaks. But the most terrifying aspect of the ship itself had been that the upper spine of its hull had been a singular replica of one of the eight converging lasers from the dreaded Death Star. While not nearly as powerful as the weapon it had been taken from, it was powerful enough that it could have transformed a significant portion of the planet-city of Coruscant into a massive crater of nothing.

But when Zak looked upon the hologram of the Sith version of the _Eclipse_—called _Bane_ on the diagram—he could see no indications of such a weapon. He gathered that it either was not on the ship itself, or that it had been concealed from the schematics in case of theft.

"Your thoughts betray you," Devess whispered from close by. "We have no need for such a weapon. You have observed our fleet; it is clear our strength is without equal."

"If your fleet's power is without equal, as you say, then why haven't you destroyed the Republic before now?" Zak challenged.

Neither of them replied to his inquiry, but he sensed the hostility in their moods shoot up several notches. He knew his time was running out. Taunting the Sith was not going to do him any favours. He would need his lightsaber very, very soon.

"You want this … don't you?" Darth Nemuritor said from Zak's other side. He turned to face the Sith and saw that he was smiling wickedly at him, absently petting the long lightsaber shaft on the arm of the throne. "Brilliant. I can feel the hatred swelling in you now."

"Go ahead," Devess urged from the other side as if by cue. "Take your Jedi weapon; strike him down with it. Give in to your hatred, and you can take his place and rule the galaxy by my side!"

The thought was tempting. Not the thought of ruling the galaxy, let alone by _anyone's_ side. No; the thought of striking down the unarmed and possibly unprepared Sith counterpart was the temptation. They were goading him, and he was annoyed to find himself almost rising to the bait. Of course, if he did pick up the lightsaber, the Sith need do nothing to defend himself. His wife would have stepped in with her own weapon and saw to it that he was defended.

He turned away, back toward the viewport and the ships outside continuing to advance on Coruscant. Ahead, the Republic fleet drew closer, moving into defensive formations Zak recognised would hold against the formation the True Sith ships were currently deployed in.

He shook his head to clear away the temptation clouding his judgement.

A lightsaber hissed to life from his right and quick as a flash, Zak reached for his own, snapped one of the deadly blades to life and twirled the hilt around his fingers. He brought his blade around in time to defend from the surprise attack by Darth Devess.

The blades clashed and crackled against each other. Zak shoved her away and back-flipped down several stairs to put some distance between the two of them.

"I'm afraid," Nemuritor said gleefully as he pushed up from his throne, "that I have grown tiresome of your defiance. Even if I knew how, I see no reason I would send you back to your own world, knowing that you would deny the greatness you were meant for. And it is beyond viability for you to join the ranks of our Disciples.

"So I suppose the answer is death, then?" Zak said.

Nemuritor descended the steps from the throne slowly, staying one step ahead of the Dark Lady. Devess still had her lightsaber in hand and ready, the red glow gleaming against the artificial, phrik-plated arms of her lover. "I believe so," Nemuritor said.

He thrust out with his left hand. Zak had no time to counter the powerful, invisible wave that slammed into him like a speeding skiff and threw him clear across the throne room. He crashed into the guardrails of the landing above the life tubes and groaned at the force of the impact before falling to the floor, lightsaber still in hand.

When he pushed himself to his feet, he activated the second blade of his lightsaber and looked up to see that Nemuritor had drawn his own.

Zak wasn't entirely surprised to note that the Sith's lightsaber's design was a mirror of his own—though only by half. His other self had not considered, it seemed, to build a dual-bladed weapon like Zak had. It was all the more his problem.

One of Skywalker's lessons rang clearly in his mind, when. Skywalker had lectured him on the physics of his lightsaber in a fight when, after returning to lessons after his brief skirt with the dark side, Zak had asked him for help in getting used to the weapon. At the time, Zak had very few memories even using the weapon. He'd only recalled his and Jaina's escape from Darth Pravus's space station, and nothing of duelling the Sith on Coruscant.

_"Remember this, Zak;"_ the older Jedi had said to him, _"with the style of weapon that you have made, you need to be more intelligent and aware than someone without. Your opponent will only need to know the position of one of your weapon's blades to automatically know the location of the other one."_


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

_**MAIN HANGAR BAY; TRUE SITH DREADNAUGHT:**_** BANE**

Jace Solo was in an even mood when the shuttle touched down on the _Bane_'s hangar deck. It had been over a standard day since Darth Nemuritor's doppelganger had returned to the Sith stronghold on Korriban, and less time than that since the True Sith fleet had arrived in the Coruscant system, armed for war.

Zak Arranda had told them that part of his reasoning for leaving behind the Sith's personal transport had been because he knew that it was a sure fire way to draw the Sith into a trap. Jace's uncle, Luke, believed him and accepted the "gift." Sure enough, the transport had somehow provided the Sith with all they needed to execute a hyperspace jump into the system while bypassing the defences on the far edge. So now, Jace only waited to see if the plan Luke devised while talking to Zak Arranda would work.

Jace still believed that his sister—if she could even be called that anymore—was beyond saving. She'd done so many horrible things in the course of this war. She'd even been responsible for the death of their younger brother, Anakin, and their uncle's fiancé, Mara Jade. And then, more recently, she'd led the fleet that had defended the attack on Mustafar, killing their own mother in the process.

But for some reason, Luke had acquired a degree of optimism about her fate. He seemed to believe quite firmly that she could be rehabilitated, and that Brakiss was at fault for the person she'd become. He believed that any psychological traumas that she'd suffered over those years that had led her to the Sith could be overcome by the love and forgiveness her family could provide.

Hypothetically. Their father, the legendary Han Solo, would never forgive her for what she'd done. She'd robbed him of the one woman in life he'd have died to protect, and he hadn't even gotten that chance. Jace wouldn't say _never_ definitively, but it would be hard. Anakin had been more than a brother to him; he'd been a best friend.

So yes, while it would be hard for him to forgive all Jaina had done to their family, and to the Republic, there was a part of him that hoped that Zak Arranda was right. There was a part of him that hoped that the doppelganger could somehow incapacitate his Sith counterpart so before he, Jace, arrived.

It was a foolish chance, and there would always be loyalists who would set out to free the Sith. And the war with the True Sith would not end just because their leaders had been captured. The Disciples would fight over the power vacuum left behind by the capture of Devess and Nemuritor. One of them would eventually destroy the rest; the war would continue.

When he reached out with the Force, Jace could clearly sense the presence of both Sith, and the strangely conflicted Zak Arranda. It made sense that if the Sith believed this battle would tip the war in their favour—or better: end it—that they would both be present to witness such an historic event. To Jace, this meant that poor Zak had been dragged along from his cell on Korriban to witness the fruits of what his Sith counterpart believed to be a folly.

But, was it truly folly if they had expected and planned for the invasion?

"General?" the squad commander said suddenly, tearing Jace from his musings.

He looked up at the man in his standardised armour with yellow command stripes adorning his shoulders and a raptor-claw design in matching colour on his chest plate. "Yes, Commander?" he said.

The man had his helmet tucked snugly under his arm, for now. He looked at the Jedi with a kind of weary anticipation. "We're ready. General Solo is just locking in the engine shutdown now."

Jace smiled. It was typical of his father to have been quick to volunteer for the mission, and quicker still to insist that he was the only one that could fly it. That they had made it on board was a testament to Han Solo's skills as a pilot. Jace would never, ever doubt him.

"What about our friends from that … other place?" Jace asked.

During the visitors' brief stay on Coruscant, they'd stared their story on who they were and their theories on how they'd come to be here. Jace had found it to be more than a little unsettling to see his other self so optimistic and sure of himself, and yet so untried by the pressures and expectations of war. In a way, Jace hoped that Jacen Solo never had to go through what _he_ was going through.

"They slipped past the TS fleet undetected as far as we can tell, sir," the squad commander replied.

"Good luck to them. I truly hope they find a way to get back home."

He stood up and picked up his armour from the seat beside him. Swiftly, he slipped it over his tunic, and then clipped the fastenings together at the sides. He rotated his arms to test out mobility, found that it was quite comfortable.

"Sir?" the commander quizzed.

"New armour," Jace replied. He reached down and unclipped his lightsaber from his belt, gripping it tightly in his left hand. "You remember the plan?"

"As if I could forget it," the commander said with a grin. He nodded over Jace's shoulder and the rest of the squad came into the main hold of the shuttle.

They slipped their helmets on to obscure their faces. All of them bore the same yellow raptor-claw print on their chest plates and all but two of them carried standard 280 model blaster rifles.

On each of their belts, they had one or two thermal detonators or other types of grenades, as well as a few spare power packs for their weapons. Some of them had L23 blaster pistols for close combat, others had DL-44s. One of the troopers was leaning heavily against a HH-15 mobile projectile launcher, which wasn't such a good weapon in close combat but which would help in clearing out the hangar before other shuttles started landing. Another of his own troopers had a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon slung over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing while he fiddled with his blaster's safety catch on his belt.

Jace could sense that the hangar was already starting to fill with True Sith shock troopers.

"Don't rely too heavily on that, private," Jace said to the wielder of the HH-15. "Get off a couple of good shots to cause some mayhem, then pick a lighter weapon. You can't afford to be caught reloading the launcher."

"Already on it, Commander Solo," the soldier replied. His voice was a little muffled by the helmet's speech slot, but it wasn't too bad. He turned on the spot briefly to reveal that he had an A280 slung across his back. Jace smiled at the soldier's foresight before he turned to the squad commander.

"Ready, kid?" his father said as he emerged from the cockpit, carrying his ever faithful blaster.

"As ready as I'll ever be. You sure you don't want to stay on the shuttle until we clear the way?" He got a disparaging look for the suggestion and instantly took it back. "Stupid question, really, wasn't it?"

"Very stupid."

Jace turned back to the squad commander. "Go," he said with an affirming nod.

The soldier nodded back to him, slipped his own helmet into place to obscure his features, and then plucked a flash grenade from the nearby crate. He twisted the grenade to life, then tossed it out through the boarding hatch into the hangar beyond.

Jace extended with the Force, creating a bubble around the shuttle so that the grenade's explosion wouldn't affect those inside. This was especially for himself and his father who weren't wearing protective gear on their heads to dull the sound or the flash. When he felt the explosion, he held the bubble firmly for a few extra seconds before he let go. He flicked the activator on his lightsaber, igniting the bright green blade, and then charged down the ramp.

Blaster fire rained down on him the second he was within sight of the shock troopers sent to greet them, and his lightsaber was on and swatting the incoming bolts away from him before they could do any harm. The sheer number of Sith troops that had been deployed to the hangar to either kill or apprehend them might have stunned another man. It might have caught them by surprise, made them hesitate for just a second.

But not Commander Jace Solo or his father. Neither did it affect—to their credit—the Republic SpecOps squad that had accompanied them aboard the _Bane_. He knew that they, like he, realised that even a split-second's hesitation when under such a heavy barrage of weapons fire was the difference between life and death.

Jace kept up his defence, employing all of the defensive movements and steps that his uncle and mentor had ever taught him just to keep himself and his men alive. What blaster fire he _did_ miss with his lightsaber, he dodged away from. Using the Force to guide his weapon's movements, he took a second to look around the vast hangar to see how his squad was faring so far.

Most of them had taken cover behind stacks of supply crates conveniently nearby. Han Solo was still on the boarding ramp, ducking out every so often to fire off a handful of shots with his blaster before taking cover once more. The private with the HH-15 launcher was with him, loading a second missile with his blaster rifle flat on the boarding ramp between him and the general. Jace saw that the trooper with the rotary cannon was standing out in the open, unleashing a storm of blaster fire at a cluster of enemy troopers coming in through the blast doors on the far side of the deck. He was unprotected, so Jace coiled his leg muscles and leapt across to his location, swatting away what blaster fire had been directed to him.

He flung out his right hand, calling upon the Force and throwing a short stack of crates one box at a time heavily into the armoured opposition. Shock troopers were crushed against walls and deck plating. None of those men and women got back to their feet again.

"Get behind some cover!" Jace shouted over the noise of the rotary cannon going off behind him.

He didn't wait for a confirmation before he sprang into the air again and came down hard on the chest plates of a couple more Sith shock troopers. He didn't land with enough force to crush them, but he felt ribs fracture under his boots, and the armour gave way only slightly.

He quickly planted his feet on the deck between the two of them and launched a hard kick, one after the other, at their heads to knock them out. His senses tweaked, alerting him to immediate danger, and he spun to his left and slashed around with his lightsaber … only to have it impact against the crimson blade of another lightsaber.

"Disciple!" one of his men shouted above the din.

Blaster fire concentrated from several of Jace's squad on his new foe and he jumped out of the way to avoid becoming another casualty in the Solo family. The darksider was also quick, and he turned and swatted the blaster fire away as if it was nothing more than a nuisance. One of the stray bolts caught one of Jace's SpecOps troopers squarely in the chest. The trooper went down without a sound behind the crates he'd been using for cover.

Jace charged at the darksider, realising only too late that his new foe was one of the more deadly of the Dark Disciples, and the most loyal.

The silver-haired shape shifter morphed quicker than Jace could get to him, and he didn't bother putting his lightsaber in the path of Jace's. He merely ducked the blow and swung up with a scaly fist. It connected with Jace's gut hard, and he felt the air rush out of him. The shape shifter grabbed at him with both hands, taking advantage of his momentary lapse, and flung him across the hangar towards a durasteel support beam.

Jace recovered his breath midflight and twisted around. He planted his feet on the beam and pushed off so that he shot up into the air. He landed on an overhead walkway and spun on the spot as it shook beneath his feet to signify that the shifter had followed him.

He watched as the shape shifter reverted back from the reptilian Trandoshan form to the Shi'ido norm. He drew his own lightsaber once more from his belt and sneered at Jace, the dark marks of his status as one of the Dark Disciples gleaming black and ugly on the left side of his face. The marks on the right side of his face signified his victories over Jedi—there were five.

"You must be the one known as Catoxle," Jace said, raising his lightsaber to a defensive position. The shape-shifter nodded, bearing his teeth in a menacing grin. Jace glowered at him. Far-be-it for him to seek revenge for a wrong against his person, he had a serious score to settle with this creature. "You're the one that murdered Tenel Ka."

"Murder is such a negative word," the shifter said, advancing a step casually. "I like to think of it as a sacrifice. Your di'kut stood in the way of something my masters wanted, and so she was destroyed."

Jacen lost his temper for a moment, and he lashed out without warning. His hand shot out ahead of him, and a wave of the Force slammed hard into the shifter and sent him flying halfway down the gangway. He followed through with a charge, his lightsaber extended before him, ready to kill.

The shifter recovered quickly, and was back on his feet in time to batter Jace's lightsaber away with his own. Jace grabbed at the guardrail on his left with his right hand and wrenched himself around in a tight spin. The move jarred his shoulder but nonetheless had his lightsaber in place for the darksider's follow-through.

He pushed forward, flourishing his lightsaber and entering into a complicated sequence of movements he had spent years learning under the thumb of his uncle.

The shape shifter faltered, and took longer to adjust to the fast, sharp movements made against him. He paid the price, and Jacen moved into his next sequence swiftly without pause after taking away the shifter's left arm. To his credit, the darksider didn't even cry out or acknowledge whatever pain he must have been in. Jacen admired that, if not the creature itself.

His temper sated for now, he pressed on. He took each step slowly as he pushed his opponent back along the walkway to the other side. He swung wide, hoping to deal more damage to his opponent's left side. The darksider saw it coming, however, and jumped down over the guardrail.

Jacen followed a second later and landed in a crouch a few meters away. When he got back to his feet, he saw the darksider's lightsaber slice cleanly through the armoured bodies of one of his own shock troopers as well as one of the Republic SpecOps troopers. The two had been grappled together in melee combat at the time, fighting to get to each other's blasters.

Jace frowned.

Clearly this Disciple was remiss of his reported devout loyalty to his masters if killing one of his own shock troopers was an acceptable loss to killing one of Jace's. Perhaps this one darksider just didn't give a kriff who died in the face of his rage, as long as he accomplished his goals in the process. Was it just him, or was that how Jaina and her lover ran their armies?

He shuddered internally. The Disciple spun around, sensing that Jace was approaching him from behind. He swung his lightsaber widely at Jace's head.

Jace ducked the swipe and lunged forward, slashing up with his lightsaber and severing the shifter's other arm. He shoved him heavily with his own shoulder as he shot past him, and the swung around and went at him once more. His lightsaber dragged casually through the shifter's midsection, cleaving him in half.

Jace watched the two halves fall to the deck, and the life drain from the Disciple's eyes as he glared up at the Jedi that had felled him.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

_**CAB'UL TUAR**_

After they landed on the surface of the planet, Jacen Solo and Talesa Valara stood in the shuttle's hold, bidding farewell to the pilot—Keyan Jace's apprentice, Ford Desan.

It wasn't lost on Jacen that while Keyan Jace remained in the cockpit of the shuttle, he shot the occasional glance back at Talesa. His eyes were filled with sadness, pain, longing. But he still refused to speak with either of them. Jacen had not heard a single word from him the entire time they'd been with the Jedi.

Jacen grasped the young apprentice's wrist firmly and smiled before releasing it and watching as the young man did the same with Talesa.

"I hope you do forgive my master," he said, looking from Talesa to Jacen. "It is not his intention to be rude in any way. His last apprentice was our counterpart to your friend." He nodded to indicate Talesa.

"We know she died," Jacen pointed out.

Desan nodded, unsmiling. "My master loved her very much. If not for the council, he would not have taken me as his apprentice. I do not resent this knowledge. It is my hope that my presence will temper his desires for revenge."

"Good luck with that," Talesa murmured. Desan looked to her curiously. "Our own Keyan Jace is my master. Our relationship follows the same lines. More or less recently I was forced into a position where he wasn't sure if he would ever see me again, and so I am fully aware of what goes through his head at a time like that."

Jacen said nothing. It was a taboo subject back home. Sure, Jedi were allowed to have relationships if they didn't interfere with the Jedi's duty to the Republic and the Order. But it wasn't acceptable for a mentor to be romantically involved with their own student, lest it cloud his or her judgement in a time of crisis when they would be forced to choose between their lover and the lives of others.

He was happy that Talesa and Keyan were happy. He understood that they had come to a compromise between them, that they would both accept being sacrificed to save the life of others. In fact, he knew Talesa well enough to say that she would be angry if her life was given priority in such a situation. But that didn't mean that breaking the rules so severely didn't grate on Jacen's morality.

Again, the two of them said their goodbyes, and then departed. Talesa dumped the climbing gear they'd been given—at Jacen's insistence—on the ground by their feet as they watched the shuttle climb high into the atmosphere before disappearing from sight altogether.

Jacen turned to head for the tree line, but was stopped by Talesa before he'd even gone two steps. "Jacen! MOVE!" she screamed, shoving him with the Force roughly to the side and snapping her lightsaber to life.

The green blade of her weapon caught the energy strands of a lightwhip that had been about to wrap around his neck and take his head cleanly from the rest of his body. He rolled to the side and got back to his feet, springing his lightsaber to life and putting it in the way of the solid metal tendrils still arcing towards his face.

The strands wrapped around his lightsaber, without being severed, and tugged as their attacker pulled back on her weapon. Jacen held his weapon firm and the tendrils slid clear and arced away.

He looked over to where Talesa was standing to see her face-to-face with the cyborg Dark Disciple, Lumiya. Her plated body gleamed under the light of the three weapons, and the wrap around her head and face was gone entirely, revealing scarred features and long, dark hair.

He watched as all of the lightwhip's tendrils arced out in perfect sync at Talesa's midsection. She sidestepped and twirled her lightsaber in amongst the mess, tangling her lightsaber up deliberately. She pulled hard, and Lumiya lost her footing and stumbled forward a step. Talesa cracked her still organic nose with a hard elbow to the face, then pulled her lightsaber free and spun around the darksider to come around behind her.

Jacen came at the darksider then, slashing around at her midsection. He missed as she stepped back, and Talesa arced high at her neck. She, too, missed as the darksider dropped flat to the ground and rolled out to the side.

When she got back to her feet several meters away, she cackled madly. "You have _failed_, Solo!" the cybernetic woman hissed at Jacen. "As per my masters' orders, you and your trollop will not be going home, and your other friend is likely dead by my masters' hands by now."

"You think you have the power to stop us?" Jacen said placidly. "Your True Sith is about to be destroyed at Coruscant. Your masters will be taken or killed by the Jedi, and your Disciple friends will be too busy fighting amongst themselves for leadership to plan any kind of victory over the Republic. And instead of standing by your masters at this time of need, you decide to track down a couple of Jedi not of this world to an uninhabited planet?"

"You _fool_!" Lumiya snapped. "The True Sith is too powerful to be defeated by the likes of the Republic. The Republic is weak—an insignificant womp rat in the face of a krayt dragon! The dark side will prevail! The dark side _always_ prevails!"

Lumiya flung herself forward, twirling the strands of her lightwhip high over her head. Jacen stepped up to meet her from her left while Talesa came at her from the right.

Jacen swung blindly at the darksider, and he felt his blade impact hard against one of the energy strands of the whip. He pulled away quickly to avoid getting it tangled as two of the iron strands came around to join its energy-sister. He let the momentum pull him into a spun, and he dragged his lightsaber's blade through the air in a wide arc. It hummed loudly as it darted straight back at Lumiya's midsection. The darksider dodged out of the way and twirled her whip again to bring the strands around to block both Jacen and Talesa simultaneously.

Jacen backed away a few steps to avoid the storm of iron and plasma, and then rushed at the cyborg again. She kicked out behind her without looking and caught Talesa in the chin. Talesa fell backwards away from her, dropping her lightsaber.

Lumiya spun and struck out with her arm, clubbing at Jacen's wrist with a plated forearm. He almost lost his grip on his lightsaber as he stumbled away from her. He heard a loud crackle behind him and dove down to the ground just in time to avoid being impaled by the numerous tendrils of the darksider's weapon.

He got back to his feet and flourished his lightsaber to block a second strike from the darksider. Talesa was back on her feet now and Jacen thrust out with the Force and sent her flying backwards. She gripped Lumiya by the wrist with both hands and swung her around before flinging her over to her right.

She reactivated her lightsaber and, together, they both advanced on the woman.

Jacen reached her first, and she tried to get the strands of her lightwhip up in time to stop him. He deflected each of her clumsy slashes and then shoved at her duelling hand with the Force to remove it from the danger list. Then he brought his lightsaber slashing down and then across.

The darksider fell to the ground, screaming in agony as her legs and duelling arm lay separated from her torso, bare centimetres from where they had once connected. Talesa reached out with her mind and yanked the lightwhip from the severed hand's grip and then tossed it high over her shoulder so that it arced far from them and landed in the forest.

"You are beaten," Jacen said emotionlessly.

"Finish it!" Lumiya growled at him, her eyes flashing dangerously. Jacen shut down his lightsaber and clipped it back to his belt. Talesa followed his example without a word. "FINISH IT YOU KRIFFING COWARDS!"

Jacen lashed out again, and felt the satisfying thud of the sole of his boot connecting fully with Lumiya's face. She lost consciousness, and Jacen took a moment to confirm it before he turned his back on her and led the way back toward the tree line.

Talesa followed him, uncertainty clouding her thoughts. "Why didn't you just do what she wanted you to do? It would be one less adversary for your counterpart here to have to deal with in the long run."

"Two reasons," Jacen said without stopping. He stepped over a brush and started deeper into the forest. "Firstly, as skilled as she is with that weapon of hers, she's going to be quite an adversary for her own companions to deal with. When the Republic takes custody of this world's Zak and Jaina, there will be a power vacuum within the True Sith. Lumiya will further delay the ascension of one of the Disciples by adding one more factor to that infighting."

"And the second reason?" Talesa quizzed.

Jacen frowned. The second reason was the most important one, and it should have occurred to her. "Killing an unarmed and defenceless opponent is not the Jedi way. It is the practice of Sith and Dark Jedi to do such things. I will _never_ do that. I will _never_ become so despicable and cowardly. I will _never_ give in to the dark side."

Together, they continued into the forest and towards the mountains they'd come from.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

_**THRONE ROOM; TRUE SITH DREADNAUGHT: **_**BANE**

Zak dodged left quickly, just in time to avoid being beheaded by Darth Devess's slashing lightsaber. He then dashed backwards up the stairs as quickly as he dared without tripping over himself.

His duel against the combined fighting styles of Darth Nemuritor—formerly the Zak Arranda of this world—and Darth Devess—formerly the respective Jaina Solo—had been going for over an hour now. This in itself caught Zak by surprise entirely.

He could sense the presence of Commander Jace Solo on board the _Bane_ now, and Jace's uncle Luke Skywalker was boarding just now. So far, the first stage of the plan he had devised with Luke Skywalker and Admiral Ackbar had gone well. Zak couldn't sense at all within the minds of either Sith Lord that either of them knew of Jace's presence on board. Surely, by now, the rest of the ship had been alerted.

Perhaps Zak's plan to distract the Sith had worked better than he'd planned. He expected, though, that they were toying with him. He knew that Nemuritor was a lot more powerful in the Force than he was; he had accumulated training from Brakiss as well as the holocrons of several Sith Lords. In comparison to the few years of training Zak had under Luke Skywalker, and the handful of months under Darth Pravus, as well as the knowledge he'd ripped from Pravus's mind as he'd killed him, it was a lot.

Perhaps, he thought briefly, he had been much stronger when he'd touched the dark side those years ago. Perhaps he'd been able to use all the knowledge he'd ripped from Pravus, and used it well and without remorse. But now, most of that knowledge, and most of that power, was out of his reach.

Darth Nemuritor launched himself up over Zak's head then, landing behind him and swinging hard at the back of his legs. Zak twirled his lightsaber and flicked his wrist so that one of his golden blades was put into place in time to block the strike. He twisted the Sith's weapon away and spun on his left foot, kicking out at his other self and catching him square in the chest.

Nemuritor staggered only a couple of steps, but that was enough. Devess dashed up the steps to catch them and rushed at Zak to pick up on the temporary opening available to her.

Whenever Zak was granted a temporary—very temporary at that, the way this fight was proceeding—lull, he reached out with his feelings. It was a desperate bid to find out what everyone else was doing, and whether every step of the plan was falling into place.

He didn't have to go far in his sensing to touch the mind of Jace Solo and Han Solo, who had just cleared out the main hangar bay on board the _Bane_. They were now locking it down in preparation as another pair of Republic shuttles came closer and closer, full of marines. Luke Skywalker's shuttle had just landed and was undergoing the shut down procedures before anyone departed to join in the fighting. Jace had lost a few men in the initial boarding, but it appeared as though less and less True Sith marines and security were being sent to the hangar. Zak determined that they were setting up checkpoints at regular intervals within the halls and corridors to slow the advance of the Jedi boarding party.

There were only another two Dark Disciples on board—a third had been killed by Jace Solo in the hangar minutes ago now. Those two were sticking together and hurrying to the throne room to stand beside their leaders.

Zak's own friends, Jacen Solo and Talesa Valara, were already far from the battle. He'd sensed that they'd escaped the system in a Republic shuttle piloted by the Keyan Jace from this world. He hoped that they were heading back to Cab'uL Tuar, and home. He could have stretched his thoughts further, if he wanted to divert critical attention away from his current situation. He thought better of that, however, as it would put himself at a disadvantage, which he would rather not do.

He really missed home. He missed his own Jaina, and Allina, and his sister. He missed the Skywalkers, Catoxle, Tenel Ka, and even Lowbacca—though the Wookiee had left the Praxeum nearly a year ago. He even missed the newer students that had arrived only weeks ago with Keyan Jace and his apprentice.

If Zak was honest with himself, he wasn't sure one bit if he would survive this encounter with the Sith. True, he had his ace safely hidden away for the right moment, but he realised all too well that he might not be given the chance to use it.

Zak had been in fights for his life like this before—against Darth Pravus on Coruscant, against Allina on Yavin 4, and against Alitha on Navii Lya Prime. But in all of those instances, he had had some kind of help.

Against Pravus, he'd had Luke Skywalker's help, and then the assistance of the dark side that had slowly crept upon him without his realising it. Against Allina … well, she hadn't even truly sought his death. She had only been seeking to incapacitate him so that she could take him away. She had only wanted her father by her side, and that's how she viewed him whether she knew the truth of her origins or not. Against Alitha, a year past now, Zak knew his life would surely have been forfeit if not for the timely arrival of the mutated Jaina Solo.

But this time, he was truly forced to see how good his ability to defend himself was becoming. Jace Solo and Luke Skywalker were too far away to be of any help to him, and his friends were possibly heading home.

Staying behind had been so incredibly risky, but Zak felt that it would pay off in the end. He was sure that Jaina Solo could be swayed from the dark side, if he was given the chance to try it. But neither Sith was exactly forthcoming in that respect.

Devess lashed out at him with the Force, and Zak dived to his left and switched off both blades of his lightsaber before landing in a roll. He felt the electrical storm slam against a console, rupturing conduits and causing the entire panel to explode in a bright flash.

He pushed himself back to his feet fast and switched his lightsaber back to life. He twirled it around his fingers and brought the hilt to rest in his hand behind his back with one blade tip pointed to the floor at his side.

"You _must_ realise how pointless this confrontation is," Darth Nemuritor said, approaching Zak from the left while his lover circled around to Zak's right. "You _must_ know that you cannot win, and that you are only delaying the inevitable. Why not just lay down your weapon and accept your fate?"

Zak didn't respond in words. He sensed the Sith's next movements and shifted his position to swing his lightsaber up to meet the crimson blade of his other self's weapon. He took a single step forward to put himself between the two Sith, and then brought his weapon's other blade slashing down toward Devess's ankles. She forward-flipped over his lightsaber and then absently struck out behind her to swat it away.

Zak continued on, and ran the length of the platform to the guardrail on the far end. His course was slightly off, however, and his misjudged a dip in the platform that had been caused by a series of too-low strikes of both the Sith intended for his legs minutes earlier.

His foot caught the dip, and his ankle twisted awkwardly; he groaned as he stumbled the rest of the distance to the guardrail. He slammed heavily into it, and, since it was only waist-high, the forward momentum of the rest of his body pulled him over the rail.

He gripped the rail tightly with his left hand, letting his lightsaber hang loosely at his side in his right for the few seconds that he swung from the rail. Then he released it entirely and fell to the lower deck, making sure to catch the fall mostly in his good leg.

Fire crept up his leg from his sprained ankle, and he pushed the pain aside. He hurried forward, stopping when he was halfway to the thrones. Then he turned to see if the Sith had followed.

He watched as Devess leapt high over the rail in a somersault that brought her to the foot of the stairs. Nemuritor leapt without the somersault and landed beside her. Both of them held their lightsabers prone …

They froze, looking up at him with an expression that Zak could only describe as shock. Then Zak realised that they weren't looking _at_ him at all, but rather beyond him.

He chanced a look over his shoulder and out through the massive viewport just in time to see two of the nearest True Sith warships exploding in simultaneous fireballs of almost-supernova brilliance.

A massive ship barged its way through the dissipating fireballs, its hull dark and bristling with weaponry that fired in any direction that presented an enemy target. Some of those guns were trained on the _Bane_, Zak soon realised as the deck shook beneath him with diluted impacts. Two smaller ships escorted the massive one; an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer branded with the sigil of the New Republic, and a Mon Calamari MC80-B cruiser.

But when Zak realised that the _Bane_'s batteries were not returning fire on the encroaching Republic ships, he smiled. Jace Solo's primary mission had been a success.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Nemuritor roared angrily. He advanced up the stairs in a flash and swung his lightsaber madly toward Zak's face.

Zak ducked under the first swing, jumped a lower second, and then brought his lightsaber around his body to block the third, fourth and fifth strikes in rapid succession. Devess approached from his other side and swung at him just as quickly.

It was at that moment that Zak realised just how much they had been holding back. Their strikes now were powerful and fast—too fast for him to keep track of with the naked eye, so he had to rely heavily on the Force to alert him to the movements of each Sith before they were made. It wasn't easy, though, and moving around to avoid strikes he couldn't get his lightsaber to in time was made only more difficult by the growing fire in his ankle.

He knew that he wouldn't last long on it, in the state that it was in. But then, he thought, maybe he wouldn't have to.

He kicked out behind him when he felt that Devess's lightsaber was far from the danger zone and caught her on the chin. His foot connected with enough force that she flew backwards and slammed headfirst into the back of the nearest throne—her own, ironically. Singlehandedly, Zak manoeuvred his lightsaber directly into the path of Nemuritor's lightsaber.

He flicked his wrist. A syringe slipped into his palm from the hidden strap around his upper arm. He used the Force to yank the cap from the small, thin needle at the end of it before he thrust out with all the Force-imbued speed and strength he could muster. The needle punctured the skin on the left side of the Sith's neck. Zak depressed the plunger control, and the thick, bluey-brown liquid inside made its way down the core of the needle and into the Sith's bloodstream.

Darth Nemuritor screamed in rage and lashed out with the Force. Zak readied himself for the assault, half expecting to be flung across the room by it and crushed into a bloody smear against the durasteel wall. Instead, the effect was minimal, at best, and Zak let it roll over his shoulders with a neutral expression. He pushed out with the Force himself in retaliation, and the Sith was sent flying backwards away from him.

The back of his head caught the guardrail of the upper platform, and he fell to the deck, unconscious. Movement behind him alerted him that there was still one Sith still a danger to him. He spun around to face her and instinctively lashed out with an electrical storm.

However, it seemed that she had decided to assault him in the same fashion, and the two attacks met in the middle and grew, and grew. Zak shielded his eyes with his left hand, still clutching the now-deactivated lightsaber, while continuing the assault with his right.

The Sith faltered, and the built-up energy flew straight at her, enveloping her in electrical arcs that popped and crackled over every inch of her and her black robes. Material was singed, skin was burned.

Devess screamed under the assault, and Zak instantly put a stop to it. He didn't want to kill her.

When the bright arcs died, he saw that the Sith was on the deck in a heap at the foot of her throne. She was breathing heavily, and he was grateful that he had been able to stop when he did. He approached warily. Though he sensed no danger from her, he was careful anyway in case of deception. After all, he only _hoped_ that she was redeemable. When he reached her, he dropped to his knees and grabbed her by the shoulder. He turned her over onto her back so that he could see her face.

Jaina Solo looked back up at him with eyes that were not the sickly yellow of Darth Devess. They were the deep and mesmerising brown that he knew from his own Jaina. She grimaced as a surge of pain flared up inside her, and the left side of her face twitched uncontrollably—an after-effect of the attack he'd just unleashed against her.

"Are you OK?" he asked her.

She coughed violently for a few seconds, and drew a deep breath. "I am now," she said with great effort. She sighed, and drew a couple more breaths before she continued. "Did you kill him?" There was sadness in the question, longing.

"No," Zak said.

"What did you do to him?"

"Courtesy of your brother's medical research team on Coruscant," Zak said with a weak smile. "They developed a serum using Ysalamiri DNA that temporarily removes a Jedi, Sith, or other such person from the Force. They were kind enough to let me test it out on your lover. None of us actually expected it to work."

"Jacen?" the woman said softly. She closed her eyes, and a tear formed at the corner of one. Zak couldn't resist the urge that hit him, and he brushed it away gently with his thumb. "You're leaving?"

Zak nodded. "I have to get back to my own universe. I just couldn't leave without helping your family. They were so desperate to have you back. They've spent your whole life looking for you."

"They have?"

"Yes, they have." He sighed. "Things may not be easy for you. But if you're willing to try it, they've guaranteed your safety."

Zak sensed her thoughts racing through her mind at that moment. The same self-doubt that he had experienced after his brief stint on the dark side was mirrored in her now. The difference now was that Jaina knew fully what she had done, and she could remember each and every last atrocity she had ever committed in the name of her lover and their Order. More tears welled up in her eyes and Zak brushed them all away before helping her to her feet as best he could.

Zak looked her over to assess her strength, and when he was sure that she could stand on her own, he released her and stood back. But when he turned to walk away, she reached out and touched his arm in a way that made him shiver. It reminded him so much of the Jaina Solo he knew and loved.

"She's very lucky, you know?" she said quietly. Zak turned his head and looked at her. Her expression was uncertain now; reflective and guarded. "You tell her that from me. She's lucky to have someone who would go to such lengths for … any incarnation of her."

Zak inclined his head towards the unconscious Sith a bare few meters away from them. A grim smile crept upon his lips. "If he had chosen a different path, I don't doubt he would have been the same for you."

But even as he said it, he sensed the truth in her. Even though he was Sith, Darth Nemuritor had gone out of his way plenty of times for his lover. He had risked his life so many times to protect her. He had made her an equal to him within the Order of the Sith, instead of subjugating her beneath his will as Sith typically did with one another. He had truly loved her.

But even though he understood all that, he couldn't help but see it as a perversion of the relationship he shared with his own Jaina Solo. The love they had was pure and untainted. His own darkness, safely locked away within the deepest recesses of his mind, could not touch it, could not change it, could not part them.

And with that thought, he nodded to the woman that stood before him and made his way over to the lift.

The last he saw of the throne room before the doors hissed shut between them was Jaina Solo on her knees on the cold, durasteel deck. Her unconscious Sith lover was cradled in her arms, possessively, gently. And she wept silently over him.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

Zak plotted the course exactly to the last meter of impact.

After leaving the seemingly redeemed Jaina Solo alone in the _Bane_'s makeshift throne room with her unconscious and defeated lover, Zak had stolen yet another shuttle and left the ship with nothing more than a psychic farewell and good luck to Jace Solo and his Luke Skywalker. Then, he'd set a course for Cab'uL Tuar and engaged the shuttle's hyperdrive and waited.

It took a few hours to reach, and when he did, he ran a scan for any ships on the surface. He found no Republic ships, meaning that Keyan Jace had elected _not_ to stick around to farewell the visitors. However, he did find the _Silent Hunter_ on the planet's surface, not too far from the clearing where the Praxeum had been built back in his own universe.

He reached out, knowing who he would find down there. Sure enough, his mind touched Lumiya's briefly. He tasted her rage, so he knew that she was alive, barely. It seemed to him as though the cyborg had been unfortunate enough to run into his friends. He made it a point to congratulate them later.

He briefly entertained the idea of crashing the shuttle into the _Silent Hunter_, but then he rationalised that if Lumiya was as weak as she felt, then he wouldn't wish to deprive her of a way back to her own kind. Perhaps Jacen had a reason for sparing her life.

But if he let her go, then it would be reasonable to assume that she knew that whatever had brought them here would be on this world. She would bring others to look for it, which could potentially lead to an invasion of the world he knew. It wouldn't take the Disciples, or the Sith, long at all to search the caves and find the wall Zak and his friends had walked through.

By the same measure, if she had been critically injured by Jacen or Talesa, could he really leave her to die, unable to seek medical aid? All just to cover their tracks and protect their home.

Another thought occurred to him, and he searched the shuttlecraft's storage locker. When he found a cache of explosive materials there, he decided that he would allow Lumiya the luxury of escape. He would leave the explosives behind in the caves to make it impossible for her or her companions to follow them home, or to travel to any other universe to spread their chaos.

He set the shuttle on a collision course with a cliff face a kilometre south of the small clearing at the mouth of the cave. Then he engaged the engines to full speed, and loaded all of the explosives into a crate which he later sealed and set at the crest of the boarding ramp.

When he could sense his destination's approach, he hit the controls to open the hatch and lower the ramp, and then pushed the crate out to the end of the ramp. He waited.

After a few seconds, he shoved it over the edge and jumped after it.

* * *

Jacen and Talesa snapped their lightsabers to life defensively when Zak came up behind them, dragging the crate of explosives with him.

"_Stang_, Zak!" Jacen breathed. "Some warning next time, before you decide to sneak up on us? OK?"

"I'll try," Zak said with a sly grin. He caught Talesa's inquisitive glancing at the crate behind him and he unhooked the strap from around his shoulder. "You left Lumiya alive," he said to them both pointedly. "I chose not to destroy her ship on the way in, but I didn't want her or her friends finding this place and using it to spread their evil anywhere else."

"Good thinking," Talesa praised. She patted him on the shoulder. "I'm impressed."

Zak grinned and pried the seal off the top of the crate to take a look inside at its contents. He was pleased to see that none of them had suffered any damage during the drop, and that they were all still secured tightly.

"Thermal detonators," Jacen said quietly from beside him. He was checking over Zak's shoulder at the contents of the crate. "Sonic grenades, a couple of proton missiles. _Stang_, Zak. Where did you find the time to track down all of this hardware?"

"How convenient it was for me that they were locked away in a storage container on board the shuttle that I stole from the Sith flagship. When you think about it, it makes a little sense that it would be decked out with this kind of weaponry."

"What of Nemuritor?" Talesa asked him.

Zak hesitated, stretching out with his mind as far as he could, hoping that he could reach as far as Coruscant. He couldn't feel Nemuritor's presence in the Force at all, which surprised him until he remembered what he had done to him.

"Out of the way," he said with a shrug. "That stuff Jace's medtechs gave me actually worked. The Sith had no idea what was happening to him. And it was fast-acting, too. He tried to hurl me just after I injected him and all it did was brush over me."

"Was he able to disable the flagship's weapons?" Jacen asked. Zak nodded. "I bet that the Sith were mildly surprised when the Republic started ripping through their ships, then."

"I'd say he was royally fizzed off," Zak replied with a chuckle. "It would have cost me my life without that serum. Jaina's still with him. She's … different. I think I was right to doubt her devotion to the Sith. I suspect she'll actually surrender when her brother and uncle find her, rather than fighting."

"Maybe," Jacen said with a shrug. "I'll allow you your optimism, however."

"Good." Zak nodded to end the discussion, and then looked back and forth between the two. "So, are we ready to go?"

In answer to his question, Talesa reached out to the blank wall behind her and touched it. It shimmered and disappeared into a mirror of the tunnel that they were in, except that standing in their place was—

"Jaina!" Jacen called out ecstatically.

On the other side of the new invisible wall stood Jaina Solo, Tash Arranda, and Keyan Jace—each the most important person in either Zak, Jacen or Talesa's lives. They were not smiling, though, and it occurred to Zak that they could not see him or the others standing there. In fact they, and a couple of New Republic lieutenants—whom Zak recognised as crew from the _Corellian Glory_—were looking at the walls around them, as if searching for something.

None of them, Zak also noted, was close enough to the wall to have triggered the strange lettering that had appeared when Talesa had approached it.

"You think that's home?" he asked Jacen uncertainly.

"Not if there's another version of us in another universe that has gotten lost the exact same way we have," Jacen replied with a shrug. "Besides, that has to be Cab'uL Tuar. What are the chances that there's another universe where Uncle Luke's entire facility had to be moved there from Yavin Four? And what are the chances that Jaina and Tash would be in this very cave, searching for us?"

Zak quickly did the math in his head and then shot Jacen a disparaging look. "Do you really want to know?"

"No," Jacen said.

"OK." Zak turned back to the crate and picked up a thermal detonator from the top of the pile. He turned it over in his hands as Jacen and Talesa each picked up additional detonators and were quicker than he in triggering a time delay detonation. He followed their example and all of them replaced the detonators.

But then, Just as Zak was about to turn back to the wall, a gut-wrenching scream tore through his mind, and he dropped to his knees in the physical pain brought on by it.

He knew the feeling, though he hadn't felt it since his and Jaina's incarceration on Darth Pravus's station. The thermal detonator dropped from his hand and clattered against the stone, rolling several feet away before stopping and continuing its countdown beeping.

"NO!" he screamed.

He pushed himself back to his feet with some effort and started towards the exit of the cave.

He didn't get very far, however, before he felt the tough hands of Jacen and Talesa grip him by the shoulders and around the waist. He heard them calling out for him to stop. They were so close, but in the pain and despair that wracked his mind, they sounded so far away. They pulled him toward the invisible wall, and he felt the familiar sensation of a tingle across every last nerve in his body before he blacked out.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

_**THRONE ROOM; TRUE SITH DREADNAUGHT: **_**BANE**

She was prone when the Jedi entered the throne room through the main lift. There were two Jedi leading the party—Jacen Solo and Luke Skywalker—with one armed civilian—her father, Han Solo—and half a squad of Republic SpecOps units in dark, decorated armour.

Darth Nemuritor, her husband, lover and teacher, was still unconscious in her arms, and she held him tightly to her breast. She stroked his hair gently until the rough hands of a couple of the SpecOps units gripped her tight by the shoulders and pried her away from him. She was forced to her feet a handful of meters away from her beloved.

A tugging at her belt told her that her lightsaber had been taken from her. So she watched with a kind of curious anticipation as Jacen, her twin, approached Nemuritor's immobile form and used the toe of his boot to turn him over onto his back. The look he shot down at the unconscious Sith was unmistakeable: it was pure contempt and hatred, a look that she herself had worn many a time.

She waited still, hoping that they wouldn't kill him. She had sensed in Zak Arranda that he desperately hoped the Republic would hold him. She'd sensed the honesty in him.

When her brother looked over at her, his gaze softened a little, and he shut down the lightsaber in his hand that had been glowing steadily. He slipped it back into its place on his belt and looked around at his father and uncle—_her_ father and uncle.

The silent rebuff didn't necessarily bother her. What bothered her was the uncertainty of what they would do with her beloved. She knew that they hated and feared him far more than they hated and feared her. Yet, she could sense that Luke Skywalker held hopes that they could both be saved. Had Zak Arranda had so much of an effect on these Jedi? She and her beloved had thought them defeated, failing.

Unacceptable!

Quickly, and without thinking, lest she alert the Jedi present, she wrenched her arms free of the restraining grips of the SpecOps units and snatched her lightsaber from the thief.

She flicked it on with a snap-hiss of crimson light and dragged the superheated blade through the weak armour of her guards. She flourished the weapon to deflect the reactionary blaster fire from the rest of the SpecOps.

She advanced on the Jedi then, still deflecting blaster fire from multiple directions. Skywalker had his lightsaber in hand first, and he met her advance to give her brother time to reactivate his weapon.

She traded blows with her uncle, stabbing and slashing, ducking and weaving. Switching to an aggressive form of lightsaber combat her beloved had spent painstaking hours drilling into her routine, she pushed Skywalker back and then switched again to a defensive for a split second as a stray blaster bolt threatened to catch her in the spine.

She ignored the pained grunt and the clatter of armour hitting the deck as the SpecOps officer was felled. Instead, she returned her attention to the two Jedi.

Jacen came at her from the left, and she swatted away his blade, allowing the spin to bring her around in time to deflect and parried successive blows from her uncle. She kicked out at him, caught him in the gut. He skewed sideways away from her and she took a quick second to reach her hand out toward her beloved.

His lightsaber obeyed her will with a cold slap against her palm. Without hesitation, she flicked the blade to life and advanced on her brother, swinging and slashing and stabbing from every angle she could manage with both of the blades in her possession.

Jacen backed away a couple of steps, and watched her circle to the left. Blaster fire rained down on her again and she spun around and flourished both lightsabers to deflect the storm of energy back toward the aggressors. All of the SpecOps went down with nasty holes in their helmets and chest plates, and not a single one of them got back to their feet again.

Jacen Solo was upon her once more, the green of his lightsaber blurring dangerously close to her head. But Devess was quicker. She had both lightsabers up in time to catch the Jedi's weapon. She shoved him backwards hard, and then turned to see that her uncle was coming back at her again.

He flung out with his free hand and Devess found herself overwhelmed by a colossal wave of the Force that slammed into her and threw her high over her brother's head. But she recovered quickly, and she propelled herself higher with her own abilities and somersaulted backwards until she landed with a cushioned thud on the upper landing.

Jacen was foolish. He flung himself high in the air to get to her. It left him exposed, and she liked Jedi exposed. She arced up with both blades, caught him in the midsection on his way back down to the deck. He fell, groaning, and rolled across the deck plates away from her. She watched him for a few seconds, to see if he would get back to his feet. He didn't; he'd been wounded too badly.

Skywalker suddenly came flying at Devess from behind, and she ducked just in time to avoid being clubbed in the back of the head with the pommel of his weapon.

She rolled to the side and got back to her feet, hissing at him like a manka cat.

"You're a _fool_, Skywalker!" she snarled.

"It's a shame that young Zak was wrong about you," Luke said, shaking his head. "I am so, _so_ sorry, Jaina. I failed you."

Devess hissed again and lashed out with her lightsaber, then her beloved's. Skywalker parried both blows and they spun around each other. "_You_ failed _me_? How could you possibly have failed me?"

"I couldn't find you," Luke said sadly. "I should have found you. I should have discovered where it was Brakiss had taken you. I should have looked harder, kept looking, used every man and woman at my disposal. But I didn't. I was stupid. And now look what you've become; the very thing your grandfather gave his life to rid the galaxy of. Why, Jaina?"

"I DO NOT GO BY THAT NAME!" she roared. She charged him, catching him off-guard enough that she was able to ram her shoulder deep into his gut and knock the wind from him. She passed him, slashing her beloved's lightsaber at his legs.

She missed.

She spun around again, snarling. Luke was doubled over, gulping down deep breaths. Seeing her chance, Devess charged him again, lightsabers out to either side. When she was within striking distance, she brought both her lightsabers around to attack him simultaneously from the left.

Her uncle ducked under them both, and kicked up with both feet. They connected Devess in the jaw and sent her spinning away from him to the floor.

She sprung back to her feet and glared at him. Blood poured from her mouth, and she spat out a tooth that had come loose from the back of her jaw. He pinged off the floor and rolled away, disappearing into the dark.

"_That_," she started, "was a mistake."

She drew her left arm back as far behind her as she could without turning. Then she shot it forward and released her lightsaber. It spun through the air in a wide lateral arc toward Skywalker. The Jedi kept his eyes on the weapon as it bore down on him, his concentration slipping momentarily away from Devess herself.

She took advantage of that, rushing at him again and driving her beloved's lightsaber through her uncle's chest. He gasped in pain as she twisted and then withdrew the weapon. After he fell to the deck, staring up at her in disbelief, she reached out to her left and waited for the cold slap as her lightsaber came back to her grasp.

"You know," she started, fighting the grin, "now that your life has been forfeit, I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you."

Skywalker closed his eyes as he guessed what she was about to say to him, and then opened them again. "It was you that murdered my Mara on Yavin Four, wasn't it?" he said softly.

"Yes," she said cheerfully. "The first real test of my abilities. Brakiss was _nothing_ compared to her. It seems the spirits of the ancient Sith are smiling on me, for fate has given me the chance to destroy the last remnants of the Skywalker line: first Anakin, then Mother, and now you and Jacen. Oh, indeed, I am powerful."

"The Republic will never yield," Skywalker said pitifully.

"Then it will be destroyed." With quick movements, she separated his head from the rest of his body, and watched him crumple into a lifeless heap to the deck.

Then Devess approached her brother, who was on his back now, breathing hard. She could sense the life already ebbing away from him, and she knew he didn't have the strength to enter a healing meditation. But she felt that he at least deserved a clean death, as he had fought her well. So she gave it to him, taking his head as quickly and as remorselessly as she had taken their uncle's.

She deactivated her lightsaber and belted it before making her way back to the main floor. She felt a kind of smug satisfaction at having singlehandedly destroyed the last of the Jedi from the Skywalker line. Their bloodline was survived only through her now, and she would never be a Jedi.

"Stop right there!"

Darth Devess looked over her left shoulder to see her father standing a dozen meters away, a blaster aimed squarely at the middle of her back. She smiled then, thinking on how foolish he was after she had just destroyed his son and brother-in-law.

"Don't make me do it, Jaina," the older man said. I turned to face him fully, and he flicked the safety off. "I mean it, girl. Don't force my hand!"

She took a step, and then another. He backed away from her, opening fire with rapid bursts. Devess flourished her beloved's lightsaber and batted every bolt of energy away from her without worrying that she would miss one—she didn't. One of them went straight back at him, and burned a near hole through the shoulder of his prominent hand.

He dropped the blaster involuntarily. "Jaina—"

Disgusted by the name he had given her, Devess flung out with her free hand and sent her father flying back against the durasteel wall. He hit the metal so hard that she heard the snapping of bone, and knew it to be his spine. He slumped to the floor, leaning heavily against the wall and whining pitifully.

Han Solo looked up at her from his potion on the floor when she was standing over him. Unable to get up, unable to feel anything below his chest, he simply stared. He didn't seem angry to Devess at all; merely sad as he looked pleadingly into her eyes.

"Why?" he cried hoarsely. "Why have you destroyed this family?"

"You are all too weak," she said. "You left me in the care of a man who abused me for years. How do you expect me to repay that … kindness? My beloved is all the family I need now. Together we will undo the discord you have sown upon such a disorganised galaxy. We will bring order to your chaos.

"Your daughter is no more," she hissed. Then she called upon the Force once more and unleashed a storm upon her father until she felt the life drain from him entirely.

When she was finished with him, she turned around and took in the scent of fresh death all around her. Her brother and father, her uncle, the Republic SpecOps. Not a single one of them had stood a chance against her. Her rage and her power were boundless.

Something stirred to her left, and she looked to see her beloved arch his back, though he was still on the deck and groggy. Devess reached into his mind and found that he was fighting hard for consciousness, and that he was still cut off from the Force.

Though she pitied him his disadvantage, she found herself easily swatting aside the desire to end his life. The old rule of the Sith demanded survival of the strong. In the state he was in now, Devess's beloved was far from strong. But Zak Arranda had told her that the effect was temporary.

Her beloved would once more be strong. He would not die this day, and never, _ever_ by her hand. On that, she had given him her vow so many years ago when they had married.

She knelt down and drew him into her arms, clutching him to her breast. Then she rose again, and carried her beloved up the stairs to the thrones at their apex. She sat down in her own grand chair, laying her beloved carefully across her lap. She cradled his semi-conscious form to hers protectively, gazing out at the battle beyond.

"My love," she whispered to him, though not entirely sure if he could yet hear her words, "today we witness the destruction of the New Republic. Today, Coruscant will be ours. Today, the _galaxy_ becomes ours."


End file.
